There's Something About You
by Sleepwalker04
Summary: Duo and Jana thought they were orphans until they were brought back together. They tried to build the relationship they should have had from the start but it didn't come naturally. Their paths are bumpy; Duo has PTSD and has to fight his own demons, and Jana has to find out where she fits in with her new family and to come to terms with her feelings for a dark-haired former pilot.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, the plot of the series or any of the canon characters. All OC characters in this work are mine and I will be rather cross if they're reused without my permission.

I've taken liberties with backgrounds of the pilots but that's the joy of being the storyteller. I've completely ignored Frozen Teardrop since this work was originally started in 2002 before it existed and I still haven't read/watched it.

Warnings: Future chapters will include mentions of rape, pedophilia/statutory rape, consensual sexual acts between legal adults, homosexuality, PTSD, alcoholism/drug use, and that's only what I know about already. If any of these are negative triggers for you, this may not be the best story for you to read.

Background: One of my college fiction professors challenged us to write a story from the view of a character we didn't appreciate. This took me to writing a fanfic centered around my least favorite of the main five pilots to see if I could find a connection with him I hadn't before. It didn't work at the time but 15 years later, the magic happened and I was able to start revising and reworking this.

Pairings: OCx5, 3x4, 2xH, 1x2, mention of non-con 13x5.

Chapter 1

From the moment they called her down to the office, Jana knew something was wrong. She had never given anyone in the children's home a reason to notice her. Unlike many of the other lost children who acted out to get whatever attention they could, Jana preferred being alone with her thoughts. She was a rarity in the building; usually following instructions without question and being almost limitlessly adaptable.

The building was one of several in the L2 cluster that was re-purposed over the last few years to accommodate the number of street kids that were roaming the colony. L2 was known for being the poverty ridden colony cluster. Pipes were always in disrepair limiting water access. Hospitals and doctors were short in number and high in demand. Sicknesses were left untreated and often spread rapidly before turning deadly. All of this left a large number of children without parents or anyone else who cared for them. Prior to the wars, funds were allocated to L2 as a recovery program to help with the medical and orphan epidemics. The centers were originally factories or warehouses left empty when the economy had crashed.

The converted buildings were never initially meant for human habitation. Plywood partitions were put up to create rooms. The bathroom situation was even worse, there was one shower and one toilet for eight or nine orphans to share. The water pressure was low, showers were limited in length and frequency and there was always someone banging on the door yelling to get in.

There were some jobs created with the program in terms of caretakers and administrators but costs were kept low by having the residents do most of their own cooking, cleaning, and yard work. They were told the purpose was to make them appreciate what they were being provided with. They needed to remember how lucky they were to have such a wonderful opportunity for housing and an education.

No one lifted from the streets or from the poor religious homes needed to be reminded of their good fortune.

Jana had been one of the luckier ones, she had never experienced street life. Her parents had died in one of the many plagues that infected the colony without warning. Most children in her situation were taken to the churches or left on the streets but she had been an infant and immediately adopted by a family who had lost their daughter to the same illness that had taken her parents. She remembered little about her early life, she knew she had been adopted but didn't know anything about her birth family. When she was ten years old, her second family went the way of the first and she had been one of the first children accepted into the newly opened East Side Children's Home. She had been there every since, there weren't many parents looking to add teenagers to their families.

The years went on and she found what enjoyment she could in her life. She was a good student and enjoyed most of her classes. During her free periods she found herself being recruited into working at the library and the small computer lab. What they paid her was a joke but she kept it stashed safely away in the bank, finding out quickly what happened to orphans with loose money in their rooms.

It was the after school time that she dreaded. Her assignments in the home were mostly in the administration area, she was meticulous and organized and could be trusted to type, file, and collate whatever was needed. She dragged out her work as much as possible, anything to avoid going back to the tiny room she shared with two other girls. The orphans were grouped up together by age, there were never any single rooms. Even more than she missed her adoptive family, she missed the small room that was her own.

The room she shared now was longer than it was wide and had very little floor space after the furniture was placed. There was a set of bunk beds and one single cot separated by a small folding table they used as a night table. The room had one closet and a six drawer dresser. Even with such limited storage space, there was extra room, none of them had much in terms of personal possessions. The only other piece of furniture was a small desk and chair. Jana had never figured out how three high school girls with the same workload were supposed to share one workspace.

Her footsteps echoed in the hallway. It was late in the day and all the normal business had concluded so the lights were dimmed. The possibilities of why her presence was being demanded ran through her head quickly, each as unlikely as the next. Her grades certainly weren't a problem, she had always managed to stay in the top ten percent of her classes at the local high school. She had never been in any fights and she didn't speak to any of her classmates or teachers enough to be reprimanded for being rude or noisy.

She paused outside the door. _Oh Lord, don't let it be another psychiatrist_. The past three evaluations had all come back the same; she was severely introverted but not so much that she couldn't function in an academic or work setting. Considering her past consisted of losing not just one, but two families, it was reasonable to believe that she had trouble forming long term bonds. They all believed that she would open herself up eventually, after her past mental scars had fully healed. There had been talk of joining extracurricular clubs to try and foster friendships as well as further therapy sessions but the interest wasn't there for the former and the funds weren't available for the latter.

She entered the office and stood in front of the secretary's desk silently until the woman looked up and smiled at her. "Jana, it's nice to see you. You can go right inside, Miss Edita is expecting you."

Jana nodded and walked into the inner office where Miss Edita Labelle was sitting behind her scarred oak desk with a strange man standing to her side. The man's eyes lit up as he studied her intently. "I wasn't 100 percent sure up until now." A large smile spreading across his face. "The resemblance is remarkable. There's no way I could be wrong."

Jana shifted uneasily where she was standing. Something about the way the two of them were looking at her made her uncomfortable. She began shifting her weight from one foot to another, hoping that they would get to the point

"Jana, this is Professor Alexander Dayone. He studies the genealogy of war heroes at the university." She picked up a photo that was lying on her desk and studied it and Jana in turn before setting it back down again with a nod. "They certainly do share many of the same features. I doubt there are many people with that unusual eye color."

"What's going on?" Jana asked, trying to speed things up. Joelle and Mercy would only be at cheerleading practice for another thirty minutes before they came back to break down the peace she had built up in their room.

"Do you remember anything at all from your past before you were sent to your adoptive home?" Miss Edita asked.

"No," she replied, getting more confused by each passing moment. "My parents told me I was adopted and my birth parents were dead. After they passed away, I was sent here."

"Jana, recently I have been concentrating my studies on the AC 195 and 196 wars and the biggest names involved in them. I found something quite interesting while I was working on the five Gundam pilots. I've been trying to trace their nearly extinct family trees. The families of Heero Yuy and Trowa Barton are proving nearly impossible to find. Wufei Chang lost his entire clan when his home colony was destroyed during the AC 195 war but their history is well documented. As for Duo Maxwell, he was always traced back to the old Maxwell Church but it was assumed that he was an orphan as a result of his parent's death or abandonment. Thanks to some old classified hospital documents that somehow survived the war, I found out that on August 16th Mrs Delia Hoverton was reported dead from cholera leaving behind two children. The older boy was two years old at the time and named Jarek. The daughter was only a few months old and named Jardine. Unfortunately their father passed away weeks after their mother, likely from the same illness." Alexander Dayone paused for a moment to let it all sink into her head.

"What are you trying to say?" She asked, her heartbeat pounding in her skull.

He smiled again. "The computerized DNA was already put on the network when you two were born and the samples that were imported after you entered the school system and from his during the wars, I was able to connect them. You are Jardine Hoverton and your older brother is Jarek Hoverton, even though I doubt he will ever drop the name Duo Maxwell."

"Do you want to sit down dear?" Miss Edita asked. "I know this must be difficult for you to accept after all these years."

Jana nodded and sank down into the offered chair. "Take a look at this photo of him." Alexander handed her the photo Miss Edita had been looking at. "You two share quite a few features."

She gazed down at the photograph in her hand. The cheerful smile wasn't familiar but the long chestnut braid was the same shade of her own short hair. The nose and shape of the face were familiar but it was his eyes...she hadn't found another person with the same violet colored eyes. There was no mistaking them. "So what now?" She asked.

The two adults shared a look over her head. "Well, as of the moment, we still have a few steps before we can reunite the two of you." Miss Edita said slowly.

"Mainly finding him." Alexander supplied. "The last address given for him was at the Maxwell Church when he was a child and that place is long gone. Your brother has been reported at several other locations in the past two years that haven't panned out either. I'm hoping that one of my contacts will be able to get me in touch with him. It's going to take some time, war heroes aren't always easy to find."

"Why is that?"

"They're acclaimed for taking the lives of others. You can see why so many of them have trouble being celebrated for something they regret as a necessary evil."

"What happens when you do find him?" She asked,

"It depends," Miss Edita flipped open a book that had been resting on the side of her desk, "unlike many other shelters for children like you, we really do try our hardest to get families back together." She searched through a few pages. "Since you are still under the legal age, I can't just let you go off with him without knowing his current living conditions. He needs to prove himself capable of supporting himself with a decent home and steady job before we can factor you in and ensure he has the ability to take care of a dependant." She looked at Jana with an apologetic smile. "Don't worry, if he can be located, we'll have you two reunited as soon as possible."

"I'm throwing all of my resources into this." Alexander assured her. "There are still a few places that I haven't looked. I'll make sure to keep you informed on how things are going."

"Do you have any questions for him while he's here?" Miss Edita asked her.

Jana shook her head. "I have a million but I don't think any of them could be answered until we actually find him. May I be excused? This isn't quite what I expected to hear when I came down here and I need the time to process all of this."

"That's fine. I'll have your two roommates stay out of your room until after dinner to give you some quiet time if you'd like."

"Thank you, that would be nice." Jana forced a smile. "Thank you Professor Dayone. I hope to hear from you soon."

"Likewise." He reached out to shake her hand.

Jana backed out of the office and made her way back up to her bedroom. Her orphan status may not have changed but she had a brother and he was out there somewhere. "Duo Maxwell." Her smile was genuine that time. "Who would have guessed."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Alexander Dayone sighed, flipping open his briefcase and tapping into his data bank again. It seemed like all of the former Gundam Pilots had vanished from the universe. Even the notable Quatre Winner was proving nearly impossible to get in touch with. He was sure that the pilots were still in contact but hadn't found anyone who could confirm his suspicions.

"Relena Peacecraft hadn't seen or heard from any of them for the past three months." He muttered to himself while scanning his list for the third time that evening, nibbling on a piece of toast as he considered the name in front of him. "That's the most recent sighting but it still isn't good enough. Knowing what I do about this boy, I'm sure he's not the type to stick around an area for very long." He sighed and continued to type. "Hilde Schbeiker, last seen in the L-3 colony cluster. It looks like the two of them were close at one point during the wars. At least in the OZ documents, they seemed worried about him being a bad influence on her and her dischange seemed to be directly tied to her connection with him. I wonder..." He tapped the table with a pen and bit on his lower lip before making a mark. "The only other place I can go to look is the Preventer Headquarters. They keep records on all the soldiers who have contacted with them in the past so if he's done work there I may find my lucky break."

He sighed and placed everything back in his bag except for his cell phone which he used to book himself a place on the next transport to L-3. "The Preventers have a base on L1. I can email an inquiry over to them and leave to track down Miss Hilde." He decided picking up his bag and walking over to the road where he hailed a taxi to the spaceport.

"Duo!" Hilde shouted as a shower of rusty mobile suit parts rained down around her "You haven't found them yet?"

"Nope. If I had, you wouldn't have to ask me." The boy stood up and tossed her a broad grin.

"We're falling behind on these repairs." She reminded him.

"They'll wait. There isn't anywhere else for them to go." He shrugged it off and began to sift through the next pile.

"Duo, sometimes you can be so..." Her voice trailed off as she searched for a word to complete her sentence.

"Desirable? Logical? Adorable? Intelligent?" Duo tossed out a few more parts and then held up two of them triumphantly.

"Irritating is what I was going for." Hilde shook her head and took them from him. "Here's the list from Sally. One of the Preventer shuttles went on the fritz and they need a replacement engine for the right wing propeller. I think I saw one in the back last week."

"Time to go swimming again." He said cheerfully while wiping his hands off on his black pants and walking off. "This may take awhile so why don't you go see about that suit?"

"Will do." She nodded and walked back to the job she had abandoned minutes before. "At least one contract is finished on time." Hilde muttered about an hour later, wiping off her hands on a spare rag and walking back into the office where a very distracted man stood waiting. "Can I help you?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. He didn't look like the type to own a mobile suit but you could never know for sure.

"I'm hoping you can. You're one of my last hopes." He pulled out the picture of Duo that he had kept in his pocket. "Have you seen this young man recently?"

"Who are you?" She demanded, narrowing her eyes. "Even if I have, what do you want with him?"

"I'm Professor Alexander Dayone." He pulled out a business card and handed it to her. "I investigate the genealogy of war heros for the University on Colony L-1. Recently, I've been working on the genealogy of the Gundam Pilots. I heard that three out of the five of them had no familial history so I began to trace back their history. I discovered something rather interesting about Mr. Maxwell that I'm sure he would like to hear for himself."

"What would I want to hear?" Duo came in the back door, carrying a large engine. "We don't have an engine specifically for the right wing but with a few alterations we could adjust this one." He folded his arms over his chest and eyed Alexander suspiciously. "What do I want to hear?"

Alexander sighed and gave his background once again. "Basically, Mr. Maxwell, since Heero Yuy and Trowa Barton proved to be more difficult then I anticipated, I've been concentrating on you for a few months now and I found something." He pulled out the printout of data and handed it to the young man. "Your real name is Jarek Hoverton and you're the son of Mrs Delia Hoverton, a young woman who passed away when you were just a toddler and your younger sister was still an infant."

Duo's jaw dropped. "Are you serious?" He finally asked.

"Quite sure. In fact, I met your sister a few weeks ago." He took out a photo of Jana from her file at the home and handed it to him. "I'm sure you're able to see the resemblance between the two of you. She was named Jardine at birth but like you, she few memories of your parents. She was adopted out after your parents expired and she's been in a children's home ever since her adoptive family passed away. She was renamed Jana by her adoptive family and kept their surname after their passing and her entry into the system."

"Let me see that." Hilde demanded, taking the photo from Duo and studying it closely. "She does look like you." She admitted. "How were you able to find all of this?"

"Some documents from the hospital where they were born survived the war. There were a few boxes of random folders that I found in what would have been the basement of the hospital you were born at. Your birth records were damaged, most of the files were. I'm still working on locating your father's name but I don't have that for you yet. I've handed the rest of the files over to my department at the university to aid the rest of the war orphans. With those papers and their birth names, I was able to get into the universal DNA records and match them up. It was pure luck that I found the records at all."

Hilde glanced at Duo and then back at the papers. "Why was she adopted and he wasn't?"

"All I can go on is pure speculation. I found some information on her adoptive family that she was able to confirm for me. They had a baby girl that died young. Jana was the right age so they took her, likely to fill a void."

"I got left behind, go figure. I remember that first shelter they put me in, I ran away from it as soon as I could."

"Would it have made your life any easier if she had been with you?"

"Would've made it worse." Duo admitted. "I saw plenty of families on the streets but it's hard enough taking care of one person. There's safety in numbers but food is hard to stretch when there isn't any."

"Duo." Hilde touched his arm.

He shook her off. "So you're telling me, after all these years of being alone, after all the times that I was picked on for being the dirty orphan, that I actually have a family?"

"You have a sister." Alexander replied. "Your father passed away shortly after your mother. I tried to find grandparents or aunts or uncles but haven't find any leads."

"I have a sister." Duo muttered taking the photo back to gaze at it again. "I can't believe it."

"Appearance wise, you two are quite a bit alike. I think that's where the similarities end, your personalities are extremely different. She's a very quiet and reserved girl. She's intelligent, judging from the institution reports, and very thoughtful. There have been some concerns about her introverted nature and she's been analyzed several times but there's never been any follow up. The woman who runs the home is hopeful that once you two are reunited that she'll come out of her shell."

"When can I meet her?" Duo demanded.

"It's up to you." Alex smiled. "If you want, I planned on going back to see her once I found you. It would be a pleasant surprise if I brought you back with me."

"I'm there. Let me pack." Duo decided. "Hilde, I'll be back in a few days. I'll call from wherever I'm going and let you know exactly when. Is that okay?"

"Duo, how could I say no to something like this? Go and find your family."

He grinned again and hugged her tightly. "Thanks Hilde. You're the greatest."

She smiled and returned his embrace. "Just make sure you do come back." She said, giving him a small push towards the door.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Three weeks had passed and Jana had only received one disappointing phone call. She was beginning to lose hope in the professor, despite all his encouragement to remain positive. Three weeks gone, and the only change had been that Miss Edita had began calling her Jardine, no matter how strongly she had protested. That name was nothing more then the proof that she did have a past. For most of the past seventeen years of her life, she had gone by Jana and she wasn't about to give up her name to accept the identity of a child that she had no connection with. She had taken on the surname of Hoverton, that was enough of a change for her.

"Why don't you ever go out and do something?" Joelle stood in front of the sole mirror in the room, bushing out her long blonde hair. "You've been acting even weirder since that guy showed up here to talk to you?"

"What happened?" Mercy asked, looking up from her toenails that she was currently painting a dark red, "Did he tell the board that you were a psycho nutcase or something?"

"Another hopeless case straight off the street," Joelle sighed with fake sympathy.

"It's nothing like that," Jana protested vaguely, trying to focus on her problem set.

"I heard that he's a last chance head doctor. They bring him in when you're too fucked up for anyone else to work on." Joelle smirked and sat back on her bed, flipping open a fashion magazine.

"He's not a psychologist, he's a professor. He does genealogy work at the university he works for."

"Genie-what?" Mercy put the polish bottle down and turned around.

"Like family history or something," Joelle said. "I remember that much."

"Why would anyone care about your history?" Mercy pouted, caught her reflection in the mirror and turned to study the expression from different angles.

Jana sealed her lips, ignoring the question and turning the page in her math book.

The two girls looked at each other and then smiled wickedly. "What's hiding in your family tree?" Joelle demanded, getting up and slamming the book shut.

"Must be a big deal for someone to come out here and see someone as pathetic as her. I bet it was someone totally psycho. Just look at her, nothing good could be related to that." Mercy nodded in agreement.

Jana closed her eyes, clenching her fists under the desk. "I have work to do."

"Not until you tell us what we want to know." Joelle yanked the book away and tossed it over to Mercy.

She felt her hands shaking.

"That's so sad," Mercy giggled, "she's so embarrassed about what he told her that she's going to cry."

"Give me back my book, please."

"How polite," Joelle cooed. "Tell us why he wanted to talk to you."

"Come on Jana," Mercy coaxed, "how bad could it be?"

"It's not bad at all. I just don't feel like talking about it."

Joelle sighed and looked down at the book. "I don't feel like giving you back your stupid book."

Jana looked at the two of them, using up every bit of self control she had to keep from crying in frustration. It happened multiple times a week, every week and the attacks were always two against one. They never stopped, never gave in until they had what they wanted from her. "He does the genealogy of soldiers from the AC195 and AC196 wars and found a connection between one of names he was working on and me."

"Probably dead." Joelle shrugged it off, studying her fingernails.

"No, he's not. That much the professor knew."

"There were like, thousands of soldiers in those wars. He couldn't be anyone important, not if he was related to you."

Jana clenched her fists tighter, the words coming out before she could stop them. "If you payed any attention in history this year, you'd recognize his name."

"What? Zechs Merquize? That would explain so much about you. That guy was a complete nutcase," Joelle snickered.

"He's famous?" Mercy moved in closer. "Who is he? Is he hot?"

"Duo Maxwell." Jana swallowed hard.

"You're related to a Gundam pilot?" Joelle jumped back. "What the fuck?"

"At least that explains why you've been acting so totally stuck up." Mercy glared at her. "Now that you've got a famous brother, you think you're better then the rest of us?"

"When's he coming to whisk you away on his pile of metal?" Joelle asked. "Does he even want anything to do with you?"

"I wouldn't if I were him." Mercy sniffed.

"The professor is working on it," Jana replied. "It's going to take some time. Can I please have my book back now?"

"Whatever." Mercy tossed it on the floor. The two girls shared a smiled

"Hey Mercy, let's leave little-miss-better-than us to her oh so important work. Taya and Char would love to hear this."

The door slammed. Jana sighed and retrieved her math book, finding the place she had left off. It wasn't like they could make her more of an outcast among the girls in her age group. Silently she went back to her homework, knowing that once her roommates had their way people were going to be walking in and out until lights out. Sadly, she knew none of them were going to be exchanging pleasantries with her.

"Miss Edita?" Alexander stepped into her office with Duo at his heals, "May I have the pleasure of introducing Duo Maxwell."

"You're a male form of Jardine!" She exclaimed happily. "In all my years working here I don't ever recall seeing a sibling set look as similar as you two do."

Duo smiled, his eyes darting around the office and taking in everything about the room. "Can I meet her?"

"Of course. Let me page her, she should be in her room or one of the study areas." She pressed a button on her phone that connected her to the building's intercom system. "Jardine Hoverton to the main office please. Jardine, I need you down here immediately."

A few minutes later, the door to the office burst open "Miss Edita, I've asked you to please stop calling me that. My name is Jana and I'm not giving it up anytime..." her voice trailed off when she spotted Duo standing to the side of Alexander, "...soon."

"Hey." He said, smiling nervously.

"Hi." Her eyes immediately shot to the two adults in the room.

"I'm sorry that it took longer then I expected," Mr. Dayone apologized quickly. "As soon as I told him about you, he decided to come back with me in person."

The two sets of violet eyes met, sizing each other up as they gazed at each other for the first time in sixteen years. "So you still go by Jana?" Duo asked, unable to think of anything better to say in the presence of the two other people.

"It didn't make any sense for me to go back to Jardine," Jana replied. "I take it you're not giving up Duo Maxwell anytime soon?"

"We have a history with each other," Duo said with a grin that brought a smile to her face.

"Why don't you two go outside for awhile," Alexander suggested. "Miss Edita and I have some things that we need to go over."

They nodded and then silently walked out the door and into the spacious yard. "How big of a shock was it when he told you?" Jana asked.

"I almost dropped the engine for the wing of a space shuttle on my foot," Duo plopped down on a bench. "What about you?"

Jana sat down next to him. "I didn't know how to take it."

"The family that adopted you, did they treat you alright?"

"Like one of their own. They're the only family I remember."

"I'm glad they took you," Duo admitted. "I don't remember much about the first shelter I was in but nothing I remember is any good. I remember being cold and hungry and hit whenever I cried. I didn't stay there more than a year or two. I remember deciding that if I was going to be cold and hungry no matter what I'd be better off on the streets, at least there no one would be beating me. I joined up with a group of kids and one of them, well, he was a great guy. Then he got sick and died and the Maxwell Church took the rest of us in. We didn't do so hot without him around to lead us. I was fostered out and sent back and just stayed there. There were some kind people running that place but everyone died in that stupid massacre." Duo's eyes went dark with the memories. "As pissed as I am that I missed a life with you, I'm glad you never had to go through any of that. Wherever you were, at least they kept you safe."

"They shouldn't have separated us," Jana objected. "I don't understand why they did that. My parents, they treated me like their own daughter. I don't know why they wouldn't have taken you in and spared you everything you went through."

"Don't stress over it," Duo stared up into the branches of a tree. "If they had taken me in, that stupid war would probably still be going on because I wouldn't have had a reason to be a pilot and end the thing. After the massacre I went working for a sweeper group and tried to destroy the Gundam I ended up piloting. It gave me a purpose and a way to prove to the world that I was worth more than they had been telling me my whole life."

"My name has just been another line in the attendance books for the last seven years," Jana said with a shrug. "I don't do anything else at that school that makes anyone care that I'm there."

"No sports or music?" Duo asked.

She hesitated. "I love music and I love writing it. I don't bother with the school chorus or band, too many people use them as social classes."

"I see," he let the subject drop. "So are things here that bad?"

"I'd like it a whole lot better if it was just the building without the people in it."

"How would you feel about me sticking around for a few days?" Duo asked suddenly. "My boss gave me the okay to take some time off. There's got to be a hotel around here somewhere. I want to spend more time with you."

"Stay as long as you'd like," she replied. "You'll give me a reason to go out and avoid my roommates for a few hours."

"Great," Duo grinned again. "So are you seeing anyone? Do you have anyone that you hang with at that school?"

"I'm not very social. I tutor some kids and talk to them sometimes outside of our sessions but I don't know if I'd call them close friends. There's no boyfriend. I've looked and I've gone out two or three times but it's never worth it in the end. The guys here just aren't what I'm looking for. What about you?"

"Kind of an off again on again thing with my boss. It makes things interesting at work to say the least. As for friends, the guys and I never really lost touch with each other after the wars and we still talk pretty often."

"The guys?"

"The other pilots," he stared up at the moths swarming around the lamp above them. "If you want, if things go through like Alex and I are hoping, but only if you want, I'd like to have you come back with me. I live with my girlfriend-boss and she has a decent house next to our mobile suit repair shop. We have room for you. Alex figured that my job is steady enough to count so it's up to you."

"You mean I could get out of here forever?" She gazed over at him in shock.

"There isn't anyone here that you'd miss, is there?"

She gazed over at the building, memories of the torment that she dealt with from the other children in the past, the psychological tests that she had been forced to endure over and over again. She could hear the board telling her that she was too quiet to be a normal child, and the echos of the bullying that she had dealt with the previous day. "No, not at all," she replied softly.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"So you're Jana," Hilde smiled broadly, looking up from a pile of paperwork that littered the table she was sitting at. "Please, don't mind the mess. Neither Duo nor I are any good at keeping this place organized."

"Don't worry about it." Jana set the two suitcases she was carrying on the floor while Duo set her new compact stereo and the small box containing her other small personal belongings on the table.

"Duo, do you want to go show her the two spare rooms upstairs? I'd go with you but someone needs to go through these accounts," she shot him a look.

"Uh-oh." Duo picked her belongings up again and backed up to the stairwell. "Better come on sis, otherwise Hilde will have you digging through this rat's nest inside of an hour."

"I wouldn't mind," she said softly and picked up her suitcases, following him to the spacious second story of the home. "I take it that's yours?" Jana looked in the open door at the end of the hall that showed off an unmade bed and a pallette of dark colors adorning the walls and bedding.

"That's where I sleep when Hilde is pissed off at me for one reason or another. There are three levels to look for. When things are going well, I'm sleeping in that room with her. When she's irritated at me, I'm sleeping in that room by myself."

"What's number three?" Jana asked.

"When she's really pissed off I give her some space, take a break and head over to Quatre's. She calms down eventually and usually starts calling for me to come back in a week or so. I'll come back and things go back to normal until the cycle repeats itself a few months later."

"You make it sound like you never do anything wrong," Jana glanced into the two rooms he had opened up and walked into the first. "Who designed this one?" she asked, glancing around at the splashes of colors that were a startling contrast against the white background.

"It was both of us," Duo replied. "We were originally going to do the walls blue with green streaks through it and then the ceiling a darker blue but we got carried away and just ended up throwing paint at each other all afternoon until it ended up like this. It doesn't look half bad with the bedding and curtains she found so we lucked out and didn't have to repaint."

"I like it. It's just like the picture of the oceans on the Earth that were in my science textbook." Jana sat down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling, "It's really tranquil in a way, even though the colors are thrown around in a way that's fairly chaotic."

"This house is never tranquil." He plugged in her stereo and then tuned it to a local hard rock station while he helped her unpack the rest of her things. "When you get hungry or bored, I'll be over at the shop. Hilde will probably be downstairs for the rest of the day trying to sort through that mess."

"I just have a few things left to put away. It's going to take time for me to get used to having all this space to myself. You saw the size of my room and I had to share it with Joelle and Mercy."

"You mean bitch girl and the one who tried to get in my pants?"

"Yeah..." her voice trailed off. "They weren't big girls but that room didn't feel any bigger then a prison cell when they were around."

"Trust me girly, I've been in prison cells bigger then that so called room of yours. I think they just threw some beds and a dresser into a broom closet and put a number on the door."

"It felt that way," she replied as he turned to leave. "Duo?"

"What's up?" He glanced back at her.

"Thanks for getting me out of there."

He gazed back at her for a moment before stepping back into the room. "Jana-girl, if there's one thing that I've learned from having to go through all those wars alone it's that there aren't many people you can really count in this day and age and those few are more important than anything else. Everything else can vanish between the time you go to bed at night and when you wake up in the morning. I've had too many friends die because of what I chose to do with my life. The other guys, well, they're more like my brothers now then anything else. Until you came along, they were all I had to rely on. Family is forever in my book and don't you ever forget that."

"I don't want to. You're all I have now."

"I've got to get going or Hilde is going to have my head. I saw a pot on the stove when we came in so I'm pretty sure she made some soup or something. Do whatever you can to make this feel like your home now and if there's anything I can do to help you out, let me know."

"Thanks Duo," she smiled again. As soon as he left the room she played with the radio dial until she found a classical station that was easier on her ears and went back to putting her clothes away in the dresser and closet. She tucked the two suitcases under the bed and looked around the spacious room, trying to get a sense of herself standing there. "I wonder," Jana murmured before wandering back downstairs. Hilde was still hunched over the table, shuffling through folders and looking like she was going to throw the stack of papers out the door. "Do you want any help with that?" Jana asked. "I did some work in my school's library and the home's administration office and I know how to file and that sort of thing."

Hilde looked up at her as if she was a angel flown in on a shuttle. "Are you serious? If you'd take care of that part of the business for us and make it so we could use the office at the shop again I'd make sure you got a decent salary for it. God knows, we could get a whole lot more done around here if I didn't have to keeping dropping what I'm doing to look for paperwork."

"It would make me feel better if I was able to do something to help you two out," Jana explained. "I'd like to earn my keep."

"You're a lifesaver." Hilde stood up and pointed out the piles that she had been making. "These are the orders that are completed and haven't paid, these are the orders that are completed and paid in full and this stack just has a basic record of our customers and their information. These last ones are the records of scrap donations that we receive every once in awhile. I've been trying to hunt down bank statements and deposit slips but haven't found any yet so if you're luckier than I am, start another pile for those. There are about a million folders sitting over in that corner and somewhere under that pile of clothes, there should be a small filing cabinet. There's a few bigger ones out in the office but you're not going to want to start in there until you have a lot of spare time."

"I don't start class for another week," Jana replied. "I got here just as they went on a break."

"Great. I'll start you off at $7 an hour and when you tackle the office, you'll get a raise. It will give you enough to buy what you want up at the mall or whatever."

"How old are you?" Jana asked. "If you don't mind my asking."

"I'm nineteen. Three years older then you and a year older than Duo. Don't even ask me why I still put up with him because I haven't figured that out for myself yet. He's like a cold that just won't go away. Now if you want to get started on this mess, I've got some repairs that I can do while Duo is diving for parts out back."

"That's fine." Jana sat down and began to sift through the piles, trying to find a starting point before heaving a sigh and going out to the kitchen to get herself a bowl of soup and a cup of coffee. There had been a sudden colony shift and period of de-stabilization while she was at school. The library and office at the home had been in chaos with books everywhere, file cabinets tipped over and the contents of the folders spilled out and shuffled together. It had taken days of multiple people working around the clock to get them back in order. That example of chaos was nothing compared to what she was seeing in that dinning room.

She picked up a sheet of paper from a Sally Po and then the paper underneath it that was a copy of a bill that some guy named Howard owed them from two years earlier. She sank down in the chair and began to place the papers in piles according to which individual they pertained to and then began to sort through them from there. It was going to be a long afternoon but she would rather be working then sitting alone up in her bedroom. She wanted to do everything in her power to make sure Duo and Hilde wanted to keep her around. He had said family was forever but the nagging feeling that she was going to end up alone again just wouldn't go away, even as she tried to figure out if the name on a bill was a Ron Smith or a Ren Smyth.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Hilde, what are you talking about?" Duo ducked to avoid a flying saucer that was thrown at his head.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" Hilde yelled. "You went bar hopping last night, even after I asked you not to. You ignored me, went out, got shit faced, and then you couldn't work today because you were hungover again. I sure as hell couldn't finish the repairs on that ship on my own so we lost that contract and had to pay a fee to that customer and we're not going to get paid for any of the work we did. You know the financial problems that Jana found us in! Now, thanks to you, we lost another regular customer and I might lose my business!"

"Hilde baby, I'm sorry." He tried to move in close enough to give her a hug. "I'll give him a call and fix everything."

"Get away from me!" She yelled, throwing the toaster at him and then a glass when the former missed its mark.

"Hilde-" Duo tried again to no avail.

"Just get the hell out of my house!" She yelled, falling to the floor in tears.

He shook his head and then walked upstairs to knock on his sister's door. "Do you want to go meet the guys?" Duo asked, holding the cut on his arm from the plate she had thrown at him. It was the one piece he hadn't been able to dodge.

"I heard that one up here. What did you do to her?"

"I went out drinking with an old buddy last night. We had a few more than we should have and I couldn't work this morning. I forgot about the repair due today so it didn't get done."

"So she kicked you out," Jana replied flatly. "I thought that you were going to cut down on your drinking now that you learned how far in the hole you guys are."

"I tried but I haven't seen Kolby in a few years. When he asked me to go out with him to catch up, I didn't expect to get that drunk."

She sighed and closed her book. "I'm going with you. Let me get a few things together. How long do you think we'll be gone?"

"A week, maybe even two with the warpath she's on right now. Just bring enough for a week. Quatre's got twenty-something sisters and one of them is sure to be your size. If not, he'll buy you a whole new wardrobe to keep there for when this happens again. I have my own room there because of the amount of times I've had to hide out."

"Give me ten minutes and I'll be ready." She pulled out one of her suitcases and began to load it with her clothes, schoolbooks, and notebooks. "Can you get my guitar for me?" She asked him, struggling with both her suitcase and school bag. It was second hand but was one of the first things she had bought with the money Hilde still insisted on paying her.

"I've got it." He grabbed the case and snuck down the stairs and out the door, avoiding Hilde's ranting form in the kitchen.

"When I got here, I thought you were just joking about her kicking you out. You two seem so happy together."

"For the most part we are." Duo hailed a taxi for them and after telling the driver what spaceport they wanted, he continued. "Every couple has problems and I'll be the first to admit I'm the biggest one in ours. I just can't make myself save her the trouble and leave. It's a strange kind of love but there's something between us that always brings us back together in the end."

"I really hope I find someone like that," she mused while gazing out at the lights. "I had hoped that the guys here would be different then the ones back at the home but it's the exact same. The ones that are my age and younger are too immature and the ones that are older aren't interested in a brainy loser."

"You just need to find someone who's seen more of the world, who can appreciate what you have," he shrugged. "They're out there somewhere. I doubt you'll find them hanging around me."

"You hang around me though," she reminded him.

He smiled and squeezed her shoulder. "You're my sister. You're my blood, I can't live without you."

Jana blushed and got out of the car as it pulled up to the spaceport. "Where is Quatre's place?"

"The L-4 cluster. You'll be able to see his place as soon as we land there."

"It's that big?" Her eyes widened. "It took me long enough to get used to your house."

"It's the fifth largest estate in the colonies. There are a bunch that are bigger on the Earth but out here it makes a statement," Duo replied cheerfully. "It's nice to have friends in high places."

"He's that rich and he's your age?"

"Yep. He's the only boy out of a few dozen kids so he's the official heir. There was some question about it during the wars, his father was a major pacifist and didn't approve of his son fighting but I guess he never changed the terms of his will before he died. The family money was divided up among all of his children but Quatre inherited the majority of the business and the family estate. You'll never meet a nicer guy. All he ever does is try to spread the wealth around."

"That's unusual. I've met some rich kids at school and I've been avoiding them ever since. They acted as if they could buy the colony three times over but they probably don't have anything compared to your friend."

"That's our shuttle." He pointed to one that had just landed in one of the private lanes.

"He has a private shuttle?" she asked, her jaw dropping.

"What doesn't the guy have?" Duo replied. "Let's get going. I'm starved and ready for one of the four course meals he'll have ready by the time we get there."

Jana let herself be dragged along without asking any of the million other questions that were flying through her head.

"That was Duo," Quatre spoke softly to the other boy who stood out of frame of the video phone. "He and his sister just left L-3 and should be here within the next three hours."

"It's still hard to believe that after all these years, there was another Duo out there." Trowa walked over and covered his lover's hand with his own.

Quatre leaned back against him and looked up with his shining sapphire eyes. "It's a bit of a terrifying concept, isn't it?"

"Is the kitchen aware that Duo is on his way here?"

"As soon as I got the message that he and Hilde had another falling out, I made sure to warn them. I'm beginning to think that he picks these fights just to come back here and relax."

"Either way, I suggest that we clean up before they get here. I doubt this is the kind of first impression you want to give the girl."

Quatre glanced down at his open shirt that revealed a sweat covered chest and stomach. "I suppose you're right," he sighed and stood up with a slight wince.

"Sore?" Trowa asked, his one visible green eye widening in concern.

"It'll pass," Quatre replied. "It's not like it wasn't worth it."

"Tease." Trowa gave the smaller boy a quick kiss. "You may want to hurry up and take your shower before I'm forced to join you. We won't be any closer to being guest appropriate."

"You're right." Quatre smiled again and got up to leave his office.

"I'm sure Rashid didn't realize what you had in mind when you asked for the soundproof doors to be installed in this room."

Quatre paused in the doorway and looked back over his shoulder. "I'm sure he had an idea but preferred to think I wanted to keep my office free from distractions."

"So what would you call that interruption?" Trowa began to straighten the piles of papers that had tipped over from their early lovemaking.

Quatre considered the question carefully. "Job satisfaction," he replied with a wink before vanishing into the hall.

Trowa couldn't help but chuckle as he put the rest of the desk back in order before walking to the bathroom in the bedroom that he hardly used.

"Hey Q-man!" Duo exclaimed as he ran into the house to embrace the two boys in turn. "Trowa!" Jana followed him, standing off to the side awkwardly.

"You must be Jana." Quatre held out his hands to grasp hers. "We've been looking forward to meeting you since Duo told us what happened."

"You could be twins," Trowa commented, his gaze shifting back and forth.

"Hi," Jana replied, at a loss of anything else to say. Her mouth was dry, no matter how much Duo had told her about his friends she couldn't help but be nervous in front of them.

"Was your trip comfortable?" Quatre asked. "I wasn't sure if the shuttle was going to run as smoothly as normal after the small collision last week."

"It was fine," they said in unison, causing everyone to laugh and the tension to break.

"The kitchen was been alerted about your impending arrival ever since you called this morning." Trowa motioned them to follow him into the dining room. "They've been cooking for an army ever since."

Quatre smiled and spoke a few words to his butler as they sat down at the table to begin their meal. The man bowed and then left the room only to have a dozen or so servants follow him out again, bringing with them a vast array of food that delighted both Jana and Duo who hadn't eaten since they had left L3.

"Have you heard anything from Heero or Wufei lately?" Duo asked once they had made their way through most of the strawberry shortcake that the kitchen had produced for their dessert.

Quatre dabbed at his mouth with his large linen napkin before returning it to its place on his lap. "They've both been rather busy with Preventer business. After I called with the news that you were planning on staying here for a week or so, Sally insisted that they both take a well needed break to come and meet Jana and give us all the chance to catch up. They should be here sometime tomorrow."

"So how do you like living with Duo and Hilde?" Trowa asked Jana, noticing how quiet she had been through dinner.

"It's much better then the children's home I had been staying at. I'm enjoying the quiet."

"With Duo around?"

"It's better than a warehouse crammed with about two hundred orphans." Jana stared down at her plate, drawing swirls with the strawberry sauce left on her plate.

Quatre and Trowa shared a quick look across the table. "Are you in any student clubs?" Trowa tried again.

"No. I'm in the chorus but it's just an elective course, not an extracurricular like it was at my old school."

"She's organized our entire office." Duo spoke through a mouthful of strawberries. "She's been keeping our paperwork in line since the day she moved in."

"Are you a wizard?" Quatre asked, setting his silverware on the plate and sitting back in his chair. "I went into that office once and I still have nightmares about it."

Jana couldn't hide her small smile. "It didn't take long once Hilde agreed to let me put a better system in place. The home had something similar and I just adapted it for her business. It's worked out pretty well."

"I saw the guitar you brought in." Trowa looked over at Duo. "Have you taken up playing?"

"No way. My fingers don't cooperate. It's Jana's."

"You're a musician?" Quatre asked.

"My adoptive family believed in teaching children to play instruments starting at a young age. I wasn't very good at the piano or violin but wasn't bad at the guitar. I did it for my last few years with them and tried to keep up with it in the home but..." her shoulders slumped as she stared back down at her plate.

"Not enough time?" Quatre asked kindly.

"No, it wasn't that. I brought my guitar with me to the home but my roommate accused me of taking her spot in the shower queue. I came home from school the next day and it was smashed. There wasn't any repairing it."

"They weren't punished?"

"I couldn't prove who had done it. When I started earning some money from working in the school I thought about buying a new one but I didn't want to see it destroyed again."

"What kinds of songs do you play?" Trowa attempted to change the subject.

"It's been a long time, I'm out of practice. I can play some classic rock songs but mostly I just play around and try and come up with my own. Do you two play anything?"

"I can play the violin and piano among others and Trowa is quite a flutist." Quatre smiled at Duo who was cleaning off his plate from his second helping of dessert.

"Would you play something for us?" Trowa asked. "Maybe we could play something as a trio someday soon."

Jana hesitated. "I haven't really done anything in front of people before. Mostly it's just when I'm alone up in my room."

"Nobody is going to pressure you into doing something that you don't feel comfortable doing," Quatre said. "If you feel like it, we'd love to hear you."

Their simple acceptance of her, the complete lack of pressure to fill any standard or role was unsettling. She had never met anyone so easy going. "If you're done eating, we can show you around the house," Trowa suggested. "It's easy to get lost here. We had your bags moved to your room already."

"Alright," Jana agreed. "Yes, I would like that."

"I'm going to the living room then. Meet the three of you there when you're done showing off this shack?" Duo leaned back in his chair with a satisfied sigh.

"No problem." Quatre stood up and popped his head in the kitchen. She heard him thanking the chef for the meal. "He's a really considerate person, isn't he?" Jana asked, following Trowa out of the room.

"Even growing up with all of this, after the wars and seeing how other people lived he's not entirely comfortable with this lavish lifestyle," Trowa replied. "It shows when you watch him with his staff. He acts like he's the luckiest person in the universe having such a competent group of people to help him with the house and grounds."

"It would be easy to love someone like that," Jana commented softly.

Trowa paused midstride and glanced back at her, his eyes cautious in a way she hadn't seen up until that point. "It is. Did Duo tell you before you got here?"

"No. He didn't mention anything. I assumed you were roommates until I saw how you look at each other."

"I see."

"It's sweet." Jana realized what was probably running through his head. "It was just unexpected. I wish Duo would have said something to me so I could have avoided making an idiot of myself."

Trowa relaxed. "I'm certain he knows, he's been in and out of this house enough. We try to be discrete when we're around other people but as you realized, it's still fairly obvious."

"Why would you have to be discrete?" Jana asked.

"Some of Quatre's sisters. He's the male heir and he's supposed to create the next heir in the Winner line. Obviously if he's with me, that becomes a bit more difficult. Some of his sisters parade girls in front of him trying to find one he's interested in. They just refer to me as his administrative assistant. In a family as notable as this one, problems get escalated by public attention so it's just easier to let them pretend he's straight and we're just co-workers."

"How long have you been together?"

"About two years now." Quatre came up behind them. "After the AC196 war was over and we destroyed our suits I came back here to get further training in the family business. We lost touch for a few months, Trowa had gone back to the circus he worked in previously and they traveled extensively. I had known how I felt for some time but didn't think he was interested in men so I never said anything."

Trowa grasped Quatre's hand and lifted it to his lips. "It's not quite that easy. I've never had strong feelings for anyone before, boy or girl. It's less that I was interested in men and more that I realized that without him there, I had lost the ability to feel. I don't know if I would ever have feelings for another man, I didn't have them for Quatre because he was male. I had them because everything in my life worth having was because of him. I love the person he is and the person I'm able to be with him."

Quatre gazed up at him, his eyes shining with joy. "I looked out my office window one day and he was stopped at the gate by one of my bodyguards. I told them to let him in and he's been here with me since."

"So the tour." Trowa turned away first. "We don't really use the third floor. It's all bedrooms and bathrooms and we have it set aside for whenever any of his family comes to visit. If you look down this hallway there isn't much past that door other than the Winner Industry home offices. Quatre and I each have one and there are a few other employees that live on the estate and come in here daily. If you walk around the grounds tomorrow you'll notice the side door. It's the one door you won't be able to get in from the outside, you need a badge to unlock that door and to get through the hallway door. There's a lot of sensitive information in there so we have to keep it locked up and the access restricted."

"You'll probably find more interesting rooms down here." Quatre led her down a different passage. "This hallway ends up in the conservatory. It used to be a greenhouse but we use it mostly as a music room. You'll have to look in there tomorrow, it's better by daylight. I know it seems ridiculous but here's the entrance to the ballroom."

"As in Prince Charming and the Princess dancing the night away, ballroom?" Jana asked in disbelief.

Quatre let out a quick laugh. "I suppose. It's more often used for stuffy banquets and business parties." He led her through a few other rooms, making sure to show her how to get back to the foyer and dining room from them. "I think you'll like this one," he said with a smile.

Jana walked into the two story library behind her two hosts, knowing she was gaping at everything. "Good guess." Trowa nudged Quatre, watching her reaction as she moved around the room.

"You can get in here from the second floor as well, there's another doorway up there to make it easier to get to the upper shelves." Quatre pointed it out.

Jana barely heard him. His personal library put every school library and every public library she had ever seen to shame. More than anything she wanted to go to the closest shelf, pull out a random volume, and curl up in the window seat lined with cushions and pillows. "This is quite possibly the most amazing room I've ever been in."

"Come in here as much as you'd like," Quatre offered. "I always mean to come in and read on my day off but then I remember I haven't had a day off in nearly six months."

"He's a workaholic," Trowa said affectionately. "If I didn't have an office next to his I'd never see him."

"I'm sorry to drag you away from this but I do want to show you your room before we go find your brother," Quatre gently touched her shoulder.

Jana let herself be dragged away and walked back to the foyer and up the staircase. "There are so many rooms up here," she said, glancing down the hallways of closed doors.

Quatre smiled sheepishly. "My family is...extensive. If they ever came back at once we'd barely have space for everyone. Most of them stay empty the majority of the time. Trowa and I share the suite at the end of the hallway. Officially his room is next to mine but it doesn't see much use."

Trowa laughed at the blush that hit Jana's face. "I think you're embarrassing her." He chided Quatre lightly.

"I'm sorry about that," Quatre apologized quickly. "Duo's room is right here. We put you in the room next door to his in case you needed anything and couldn't remember where the rest of us were. Heero and Wufei have rooms down the hall that they use when they're here."

"Make sure to have them aired out and cleaned for tomorrow," Trowa reminded him.

"Thank you. Did you have any questions for us before we head back down?"

"Just, um, where's the bathroom?"

"There's one off of the living room, two off of the ballroom and a small powder room in the library downstairs. Up here you have your own."

Jana opened the door and stepped inside. The room made her space at Hilde's look like a hovel. The bed was a king sized canopy bed covered in the thickest looking comforter she had ever seen. The colors were all pale blue and gold making her immediately think of a clear morning sky. All the furniture looked antique but the pieces were so well preserved that it seemed like a time traveler had just plopped them down in the room five minutes before she had opened the door.

"Do you remember how to get down to the living room?" Quatre asked.

Jana nodded. "Quatre?"

"Yes?"

"It's beautiful. Thank you, so much."

"It's our pleasure. Come on down when you're ready."

They shut the door behind them. Jana listened for their footsteps to fade away and threw herself on the bed, allowing herself to roll back and forth in pure delight. The mattress was thick, the pillows soft as clouds. She spotted the two doors and opened them both, the first revealing a walk in closet the size of her room back at Hilde's and the second opening to her private bathroom.

She couldn't help the sigh of pure pleasure. She had never had a bathroom to herself before and this one was full of luxuries she had seen in magazines but never experienced for herself. There was a emphasis on antique looking designs in that room as well, from the vanity table in the corner to the smooth curves of the claw foot bathtub. The shower, a more modern piece, was tucked discreetly in another corner to avoid detracting from the atmosphere of the room.

The vanity was laid out with hair brushes and combs, a blow dryer and a curling iron. Exploring the drawers she realized the room had been stocked with everything from tweezers and q-tips to a salon quality shampoo and conditioner. There was a selection of different lotions and bubble baths that she couldn't wait to try out.

She took care of her personal needs and walked back out, intending to unpack but remembered their instruction to come back downstairs.

No, it hadn't been an instruction, it had been an invitation. It shocked her to realize that it was one that she was looking forward to, one that she wanted to take advantage of. For the first time for as far as she could remember, she wanted to be around other people, she wanted to be social. What was it about those two guys?

She left her room before the desire to join them faded away and found the living room easily enough. There was music playing quietly in the background giving the room a pleasant ambience without making conversation difficult. "Find your way back without a problem?" Trowa asked.

"Your instructions were perfect," she assured him.

"Do you drink coffee?" Quatre stood up and motioned her to the chair in between himself and her brother. "I can have them send up tea or cocoa if you'd prefer."

"No, coffee is fine, thank you."

"He used to be the biggest tea addict I had ever met," Duo said with a grin.

Jana accepted the cup and added cream and sugar until the color faded to a light tan. Quatre glanced at her cup with a barely noticeable wince. "Sorry," she said, hiding her mouth behind the cup.

"Don't mind him," Trowa chuckled. "Duo's right. He used to be a tea snob, now he's a coffee snob."

"Do you think you'll be comfortable enough in that room?" Quatre asked. "I asked one of my housekeepers to stock the bathroom with whatever you might need. I knew you were coming out here without much notice and I know from experience that when you pack in a rush you end up forgetting some of the most basic things."

"I don't think anyone could walk into those rooms and not be comfortable," Jana admitted. "It's just, beyond perfect."

"So, we keep asking you questions. Is there anything you want to ask us?" Trowa set his cup and saucer on a coaster.

"I probably should before I make an idiot of myself again. Your two friends that are coming in tomorrow, are they...?"

Quatre choked midsip and set down his cup quickly. "Breathe," Trowa said softly. "It's a fair question considering she wasn't really prepared for our relationship before she got here."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Duo put in. "I guess I don't really think about it and you never asked me if any of my friends were seeing anyone."

"To answer your question, no. They aren't in a relationship." Quatre had recovered his dignity. "We don't really discuss these things when we're together. Just from my best guess, Heero is similar to how Trowa was before he came here. He has a very protective relationship with Relena but I'm not sure if it's romantic. I'm honestly not sure if he has ever been in or wanted a relationship with anyone, male or female."

"He could be asexual," Trowa suggested. "That's what I thought about myself for a long time."

"It's possible," Quatre agreed. "I'm almost certain Wufei is straight."

"He was married before," Duo pointed out.

"He was thirteen or fourteen and it was arranged by their clan. I don't think he had a choice in the matter."

"You think he had a wedding night?" Duo fixed onto the most interesting detail he could find.

"I'm absolutely certain there was a night following their wedding ceremony," Trowa replied dryly.

"You know what I mean." Duo considered his own question. "I never really thought about it 'til now."

"I'm fairly sure that Wufei would prefer you not think that far into his personal business at all." Quatre drained the rest of his cup and set it back on the silver tray. "Wufei is...very private. He works as a Preventer but also takes classes at the L1 University. From the little he's told us of his childhood, he was a scholar before the battles started and his other skills were demanded."

"Why would he want to stay in an organization that keeps him fighting if he wants to be a student?" Jana asked.

Quatre looked at Trowa who shrugged slightly. "You'd have to ask him that although..."

"What?"

"Don't expect him to be open to a line of questioning. As I said, he's very private. You'll never find a more honorable person or a more loyal friend, I don't want you to think he's a terrible person. I just want you to be prepared, out of the five of us, during the war, Duo and I were probably the most socially capable."

"That's his nice way of saying you'd get more of a reaction talking to a door than the other three," Duo smirked.

"That's not completely true," Trowa objected. "Wufei was capable of some very lengthy speeches when he felt the need for them. Heero and I were the quiet ones."

"What changed?"

"Doncha know?" Duo slapped his hands together gleefully, "Quatre taught him to open his mouth."

"With that, I think we're going to call it a night." Trowa shook his head as Quatre sputtered. "If you need anything in the middle of the night, you can either wake us or press 7 on the bedside phone to get the late night house staff. Duo, they've asked us to remind you that hot fudge sundaes aren't really a 4am food and to please take pity on them."

"What time do they serve breakfast?" Jana asked, copying Quatre's motions and setting her cup on the tray.

Quatre looked puzzled. "There really isn't a set time. I guess anytime before noon? They'll prepare your breakfast whenever you come down for it. If you prefer, they're perfectly willing to bring you breakfast in bed, against just press 7."

Jana blushed. "Sorry, I'm used to a kitchen schedule. At the home if you wanted anything decent you had to be early in the line. If they ran out of whatever the main food was supposed to be, the rest of the line got oatmeal or cream of wheat. It's taking a bit to break the mindset."

"I'm glad Duo got you out of there," Trowa commented.

"So am I. Again, thank you." Jana reached out to shake Quatre's hand only to find herself in a light embrace followed with a casual side hug from Trowa.

"Sleep well," Quatre said, walking out ahead of her.

"Are you going to be alright?" Trowa asked Jana as she stood silently.

She nodded. "I'll be fine. I always am."

"You don't have to be anymore. We're all friends here and we take care of each other. If you need a shoulder to cry on, no one here will turn you away." He gave her shoulder a quick squeeze and led her up the stairs to catch up with Duo and Quatre.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Really? That's great. Okay, we'll see you two in a few hours." Quatre hit a button on the phone by the bed and flipped over on his side to gaze at Trowa.

"Heero?" Trowa asked.

Quatre nodded. "He and Wufei are leaving the base in a few minutes. A Preventer shuttle is headed to this cluster so they're going to get a ride on that. I offered to send the corporation shuttle after them but he said there wasn't any point just to save a few hours. They'll be here after we're usually done with breakfast so I'm going to have the staff keep some food warm for them. Military travel isn't very comfortable so I'm sure they're going to want to freshen up and grab a bite to eat before we do anything."

"Do you have anything planned?" Trowa asked him.

"Not as of the moment. I figured that we all just need some time to catch up and get to know Jana a little bit better. She looked so uncomfortable at dinner last night. I just want to make her feel at home."

"She seemed slightly more relaxed when we were having coffee." Trowa adjusted his arm so Quatre could curl up against his side.

"Even relaxed she was on the edge of her seat. She looked like she was about run away if any of us said anything wrong."

"From what Duo mentioned to me last night, it's normal behavior for her. She's been with him and Hilde for close to a month and still hasn't opened up very much. It may be that she's a very reserved person in general. It's not like you haven't made friends with people like that before."

"I'm glad you said that because she did remind me of how you were when we first met." Quatre drew his fingertips back and forth over Trowa's chest. "I wonder if it's going to take music to open her up too."

"You could just let her feel things out on her own," Trowa pointed out, "This house is intimidating. You and I are brand new to her and we're throwing two more new people at her in short order. The only person here that she's familiar with she's only known for a little while. Give her time, it's probably what she needs right now. You're hard to resist, she'll come around on her own."

"You really think so?"

"People change." Trowa ran his hand through Quatre's hair. "You can't forget how alone she's felt all her life. It's going to take time for her to get used to being loved."

"I suppose." Quatre climbed out of the pile of satin and silk and plodded over to his bathroom. "I'm going to take a quick shower," he informed his lover with a coy grin. "You look like you could use one too. I'll wash your back if you'll wash mine," he quipped.

"Trust me, I plan on washing more then just your back." Trowa's eyes gleamed as he followed Quatre into the bathroom.

Jana woke up with a start, sitting straight up and gazing around at her surroundings "That's right, I'm not at the shop." She got out of bed and walked over to open the curtains and let the light cascade into the room, gazing down out over the flower gardens and the Olympic sized pool that was fed by a small waterfall. "I wouldn't be surprised if Duo pissed off Hilde on purpose just to be able to come back to all of this." She opened the windows so the breeze could send the gentle fragrance of the flowers into the room. Jana sniffed once and then gave a happy sigh before walking into her bathroom to shower and make herself presentable enough for the riches that she saw everywhere around her.

When she stepped out into the hall she immediately hesitated. She knew Duo was next door but from what she had learned over the last month, she knew he preferred sleeping in until noon if he was able to do so. As for Quatre and Trowa, she didn't want to be a bother. The two of them were obviously quite involved with each other and she didn't want to jump into the middle of that. "I hope he meant it when he said to make myself feel at home," she muttered, making her way back down to the first floor.

The rooms were all opened up, most of the windows were thrown open to catch the breeze she had enjoyed upstairs. She had assumed she was the only one awake until she heard the music coming from the conservatory. Jana paused in the doorway, her head tilted to better take in the sounds filling the room. It was classical: light, lilting, and perfectly executed. Quatre mentioned being able to play but he hadn't mentioned how skilled he was.

"Good morning." He looked over with a smile, his finger tips still floating over the keys. "Did you sleep well?"

"I never knew pillows could be that soft. It was like sleeping on a cloud. I didn't ever want to wake up."

"I'm glad you changed your mind. I would have been extremely disappointed if I never got the chance to speak with you again." Quatre kept his fingers moving quickly over the ivory keys, bringing the piece to its conclusion.

"Where's Trowa?"

"Making sure the preparations for breakfast are going as planned. If they need something, he likes to save them time and run out and get it himself. The cook absolutely adores him."

"You two are really kind people, aren't you?"

Quatre shrugged, resting his hands in his lap. "I don't see the point in treating people as less than me just because they work for me. We all work for a living, without them wanting to do their jobs well I wouldn't be able to focus on my job as easily. I truly appreciate what they do for me and don't see the point of hiding it."

"Whether it's that or your relationship with each other, this house just feels calm. It would be easy to be happy here."

Quatre looked at her curiously. "You're not offended by it? I wasn't sure last night, you were uncomfortable about so much I wasn't sure if our relationship was part of it. I know what you said but I also could tell you'd rather face down a mobile doll than be rude to your host."

"I don't have any issues with it," she answered quickly. "Honestly. You two are obviously very much in love with each other and isn't that all that matters? You've got what I've always wanted, it doesn't matter who its with."

"Thank you." Quatre's eyes shone happily. "If my sisters shared your views, things would be much easier for us."

"Trowa said some of them choose to ignore your relationship."

"That's not entirely accurate. It's less like 'some' and closer to 'nearly all'. Most of them don't just ignore our relationship, they're hostile about it. This house was always full of family, even after my sisters were married they were always coming back for visits. It's just one more way I'm a poor heir, this house being so empty. Not only am I ending the family line, I've destroyed the family that's already here. Out of twenty-nine sisters there are only seven or eight that I hear from regularly but they have their own families and careers and it's difficult for them to get time off to come visit. It's lonely. I don't know what I'd do without Trowa here."

"Were they able to give you a decent reason why they're so against your relationship?"

His eyes teared up but he quickly blinked them back and straightened his posture. "They said that with Father gone, I'm obligated to produce a legitimate male heir. My birth was the end of my mother and all my sisters were, if you'll excuse my wording, test tube babies. Since I'm the only boy and the only child that was born naturally, they feel I have an obligation to our future generations. What I don't understand is how their blood is any less pure then mine. We all had the same parents. I'm already an uncle about forty-five times over, I'm sure one of them would be a perfectly decent heir to the family fortune and if not, Trowa and I have already talked about adopting or hiring a woman to carry our children. Our solutions just aren't good enough for them." He glanced above the doorway at the large family photograph of all thirty children and their father. "We may as well go to breakfast. It should be ready by now. Are you comfortable eating with only Trowa and I? Duo would be happier sleeping late and eating with Heero and Wufei when they get here." Jana nodded and he held his arm out to her. "Would you let me escort you to the dining room?"

She smiled. "Thank you."

"Jana, it's absolutely no trouble at all. In just ten minutes, you've acted like the sister I've craved for the past two years. I should be the one thanking you."

Jana wanted to tell him that in less than a day he and Trowa had made her feel more at home than Duo and Hilde had done in over a month. She wanted to tell him how much she was looking forward to getting to know them better and how she hoped that she would be able to let them really get to know her. She wanted to, but couldn't. She didn't want to assume he would feel complimented by the statement and she couldn't bring herself to vocalize a statement that felt like a betrayal of her brother in her head.

The breakfast was more elaborate than any she had ever experienced before. There were plates of waffles and poached eggs covered in a thick sauce with chopped herbs sprinkled over the top. There was a bowl of salad full of chopped pieces of fresh fruit, some of which she wasn't familiar with. "Something on your mind?" Trowa prompted as she stared down into her plate.

"We didn't get a lot of fruit at the home," she replied, pushing her fork into something that was a bright yellow-orange. "When they gave us some at breakfast it was usually that cocktail from a can."

"They didn't have fresh fruit for you?" Quatre asked aghast.

"Maybe once a week and it wasn't very good. The grocery stores cleared their stock on Saturdays and they sent over anything that wasn't spoiled for Sunday morning. It may not have been spoiled, but it was close. What is this? It's really good."

"Mango. We have some greenhouses on the grounds and we grow a lot of the fruit trees from Earth. When we were down there we developed a taste for the variety of fruits and vegetables they produced but the import costs are really high. By growing our own we keep costs down and we're able to share it out with staff and food pantries around the colony."

"What about Duo and Hilde? They must have some?"

"Some. Mostly apples and grapes. They're easy to grow and L3 has some orchards set up. I sound ungrateful, I'm sorry."

Trowa passed her the bowl. "You're hardly ungrateful. You're reminding the two of us just how fortunate we are."

"You fought for it," Jana protested.

"We fought for peace," Quatre corrected, "at least primarily. We each had our reasons for going out beyond that but our love for outer space and for the Earth and wanting the two to co-exist was the driving force."

"What was it like, if you don't mind my asking. Duo won't talk about it much."

"None of us do." Trowa sat back and allowed his plate to be cleared.

"There were a lot of dark moments we all had to go through," Quatre tried to explain. "There are things that none of us want to revisit. There were missions where you were left with your own thoughts and ended up with so much self doubt you could hardly convince yourself to stand up again. There are things that no matter how much charity or good I try to do, I'll never make up for."

"Quatre," Trowa said softly, covering his hand with his own.

"I'm going to go get some paperwork done before Heero and Wufei get here." Quatre stood up abruptly. "I'll be in my office if you need me."

"Do you need any help?" Trowa asked.

"No, thank you," Quatre replied. "I'm going to start drafting resource access request forms."

"Is he alright?" Jana asked after he had left the room.

"We all have things we regret," Trowa said quietly. "For some of us it's easy to set events aside as being part of a war. His kindness and empathy won't let him do that. How much have you learned about the wars? Have your teachers gone into specific defining events?"

"No, just cause and results and notable names."

"When Quatre lost his first Gundam, he used one of the plants owned by his family and developed a new suit using some blue prints that had been discarded for being too dangerous. He's so bright and had the skilled labor available to put the suit together and to assemble a system that wasn't supposed to exist. We all used it at one point or another, saying it messes with your head is a gross understatement. In his case, he was already dealing with the grief from the recent assassination of his father. The system twisted that grief and caused him to see the colonies as his enemy and made him lose track of what he was fighting for."

"What happened?"

"He used that new suit to completely demolish several colonies. The accurate civilian death count was never actually finalized because everything and everyone was destroyed. Estimates put the casualties anywhere between 50 and 500 thousand. Two of the colonies had been occupied at the time, the third had been told to evacuate but there were some holdouts."

Jana's face paled, "Oh my God. They didn't arrest him?"

"He tried to turn himself in after both wars. Apparently fighting in and having a role in ending two wars was enough of a character reference to keep him from doing any time. There were some serious fines and restoration fees involved as well as psychological examinations to ensure there weren't any lasting effects from the Zero system on his brain."

"I didn't realize it...any of it."

"I tease him about being a workaholic but in reality it's what keeps him sane. He has to feel that he's paying back outer space by helping to develop colonies, fund resource satellites, improve technology to increase the quality of life out here, and anything else he can think of. The Winner family actually takes very little in return for their actual work, most of their money is in stocks, bonds, and other investments that provide returns that the family lives on. The family has always considered it their business to help others first."

"I'm glad you told me."

"There's a collection of books about the wars in the library if you're interested. It may help you understand a bit better."

"I think I'm going to take my guitar back to the conservatory for awhile, if you don't have anything else planned."

"Nothing for now. Did you want company? My flute is in there if you wanted to do a duet," he watched Jana hesitate, "or not. You are allowed to say no if you're not comfortable with something."

"I'm just not used to other people listening to me," her voice dropped to a near whisper, "It's always been a private thing."

"That's all you needed to say." Trowa patted her hand. "I'm going to check with the house staff to make sure the rooms were prepared and then I'm going to stop over to one of the labs to check up on a few projects while Quatre is occupied. I should be back before Heero and Wufei arrive."

He gave a casual wave as he walked into the kitchen, leaving her sitting at the massive table. There it was again, that easy acceptance and understanding. Jana walked back up to her bedroom, surprised to find the bed remade and the bathroom cleaned up. The towel she had used earlier had been replaced with a fresh one that was neatly folded over the towel bar. Her clothes had been washed, dried, folded and left on the foot of her bed. She wasn't a messy person but having someone behind her erasing the evidence of her living in the room was disconcerting.

She grabbed her guitar from where it was resting in the corner and slipped back down the stairs and through the quiet halls. It took her a few minutes before she was willing to start picking at the strings. At first she was just making noise, listening to the tones resonating through the room. She would start and stop and start again, listening for the sound of anyone coming towards the room.

It wasn't until she felt comfortable in her solitude that she was able to let go and start playing songs from her memory. She sang along with some of them, others she preferred to listen to on their own. Eventually she tried to remember the song Quatre was playing earlier and harmonize along with it. She was deep in concentration, deep in the music she loved and had lost track of time.

In the back of her mind she recognized a voice but it wasn't until she heard "Duo?" that she realized that she wasn't alone any longer.

"When did you learn how to play guitar?" A second voice asked. "When did you cut your hair?"

She turned around slowly, unable to hide the nervousness from realizing the voices weren't ones she knew. The two boys in the doorway looking at her seemed just as bewildered as she was.

"That explains it," the first boy nodded, "you must be his sister."

Jana nodded slowly, her mouth dry.

"Heero Yuy," he introduced himself quickly. "This is Wufei Chang." He nodded at the second boy who stood next to him.

"Pleased to meet you both," she replied, swallowing hard. "Trowa should be back soon, Quatre is up in his office and Duo..."

"Is right behind you." Her brother ran into the room and tackled Heero to the ground, "Hey buddy!"

Jana studied the startled look on the other pilot's face as he looked up at the cheerful boy who was sitting on top of him. Wufei let a small smile cross his face before it faded back to his normal stoic expression. "Have you two met Jana yet?" Duo asked.

"Right before you decided to practice your football skills," Heero remarked dryly.

"So what did you do this time?" Wufei asked.

"Went out, had a good time and couldn't work the next day." Duo shrugged. "She's pretty pissed this time. It'll probably be a week or two before I get the call to hurry up and come home again."

"Still drinking?" Wufei scoffed.

"I ran into an old friend," Duo said defensively.

Jana quickly returned her guitar to its case. The tension in the room had escalated quickly and she wanted to get out of there.

"Wufei, Heero," Trowa walked in, "we're glad you made it. How are you?"

"Fine," Heero replied while trying to push Duo off of him.

Trowa smiled and then fixed his eyes on Wufei. "How about you? Is Sally keeping you busy?"

"She keeps trying to tell me to take things easy. I enjoy the work and the flexibility to further my education. I don't have much use for pointless free time. Still, I can just imagine what my desk is going to look like once I return to the office."

"Wufei, you need to chill out." Duo finally pulled himself to his feet and helped Heero up as well. "This is supposed to be your vacation."

"Do you still want to play?" Trowa asked Jana.

She hesitated, looking at the other two boys. "Maybe later. You're going to want to catch up with your friends."

"If that's what you want." Trowa picked up the guitar case and handed it to her. "You could come with us."

"I've got some homework to do, my teachers are emailing my work to me while I'm here. We don't have any tests or quizzes until late next week and we may be back at Hilde's by then. I should start working on college applications too." Jana forced a smile at them all. "It was nice meeting you."

Heero smiled back before tackling Duo down to the floor. "One for one," he remarked, standing back up and brushing himself off. Wufei simply nodded at her, keeping his eyes on the scene before him. Jana slipped out the door, fleeing back up to her bedroom.

"She certainly looks like you," Wufei commented. "Is that how things would have been if you were an introvert?"

"I was curious about her," Heero admitted, giving Duo a hand up. "Is that normal?"

"She's just shy," Duo said defensively. "Our parents died, her adoptive family died, and you should have met the bitches they had her with. She'll open up eventually."

"She open up to you or Hilde yet?" Wufei asked, raising an eyebrow.

Duo glared back at him, "Not yet."

"I'm sorry I wasn't here to greet you," Quatre rushed into the room and apologized, his expression more relaxed. "Where's Jana?"

"She wanted to work on her school assignments," Trowa said. "We've got a late breakfast ready for you if you want to come to the dining room."

It wasn't until the five of them were sitting around the table with three of them eating that they started speaking again. "Duty calls?" Duo asked Quatre.

"I just needed to take care of a few things. I expected to be done an hour ago but I didn't want to leave paperwork half finished."

"Workaholic." Duo shook his head.

"It's a healthier vice than what you have," Wufei pointed out.

"Heero, what are you doing?" Trowa asked, watching him pull out a small laptop and start typing into it.

"Just running a background check. It can't hurt to be careful."

"You're running a search on Jana?" Quatre almost knocked over his coffee.

"That's crossing a line!" Duo shouted.

"You said she's keeping a lot bottled up. I'm just making sure that there aren't any arrests or suspicious events that you need to look into since I'm sure you didn't bother checking before moving her in with you. Congratulations, she's completely clean. From the looks of things, if any of her schools are reputable, she's pretty damn smart too."

"She is." Duo settled down, diving back into his food. "I just had all these mental images of what a sibling relationship would be like. It hasn't been like that at all. I love her, I get the feeling she loves me but she always acts like she's happier on her own."

"When she does speak to you, there's something inside of her that's really sincere and lovely." Quatre poured himself a second cup of coffee.

"She reached out to you?" Duo was unable to hide the hurt on his face.

"Not exactly," Quatre said quickly.

"He probably reached out and she responded," Wufei pointed out. "It's a gift of his, being able to put people at ease quickly."

Jana lingered at the top of the stairs, listening to their conversation. The other two boys added an element to the small group from the night before that she wasn't ready to take on yet. She had been taught Heero's name since the wars ended. Seeing him in front of her after seeing his picture in history books was beyond intimidating. Hearing him running her through a background check that soon after meeting her wasn't going to make facing him again any easier.

Wufei was harder to place. There hadn't been any photos of the other four pilots in her history book, just pictures of Heero, Relena Peacecraft, and Treize Kushranada. The way Quatre and Trowa spoke about him and the way he carried himself made her think of a bodyguard. Again, unlike Quatre and Trowa, he made her very nervous.

She heard their conversation get louder and realized that they were leaving the dining room. Jana moved further down the hall and ducked back into her room when she heard them coming up the stairs. She had her books and laptop open on the bed but hadn't proceeded very far with her work. "Hey, you okay?" Duo popped his head into her room.

"Yeah, I just don't want to fall behind."

"We're going out to the pool, wanna come?"

"I don't have a bathing suit with me."

"Quatre said to check the dresser, there are a few in there that he thinks will fit you."

"No, I really should finish these assignments. I'll come outside later when I'm done."

She saw the disappointment on his face and knew that she had fallen short again. "Suit yourself." Duo gave a jerk of his shoulder and went into his own room, shutting the door harder than necessary.

Jana closed her own door to force herself to get back to the tasks at hand. She was halfway through her physics questions when she heard the shouting and splashing outside her windows.

It was a terrible idea. All it was going to do was distract her but she got up and went to the window anyways. Heero and Trowa were sitting on the side of the pool with their legs hanging in the water. Quatre and Duo were splashing each other, laughing and trying to get away from each other. She didn't see Wufei at first but then spotting him doing steady laps by himself away from the other four former pilots.

Jana threw herself down next to her books. They were all incredibly good looking, physically fit and dripping wet in the sun. She had no idea how she was going to convince her brain to go back to focusing on science and not the scene outside her bedroom window.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"That sounded lovely." Quatre beamed from his spot at the piano.

Jana blushed and set down her guitar. It had only been in the past few days that she had felt comfortable enough to play in front of Quatre and Trowa. They discovered they knew some of the same pieces and tried playing as a duo and as a trio, laughing when they realized that they were used to playing them at different tempos and that they would need to practice before they sounded harmonious.

Trowa walked in the room and dropped a casual kiss on Quatre's forehead. "Your fax machine was almost out of paper. I filled it but it's still going."

Quatre groaned. "The Norton contracts?"

"Looked like it."

"I've begged and pleaded with them to scan and email. I've offered to train and send them an IT communication expert. I've offered to email them contracts and fly out so I could email them back to myself but they refuse to move into technology from the AC age."

"Why deal with them?" Jana asked.

"They annually renew some major contracts," Trowa explained.

"Not even that, the technology they commission is slated to go to the L2 cluster. They're trying to renovate the hydration systems that are so faulty. After the colonies have a more stable source of water, the plan is to clear out the larger areas of destruction. We'll replace it with agriculture to provide an immediate source of jobs that even the street kids can take. It'll give them money for food and for medicine and hopefully cut the death rate down. After that, we'll put up some new industrial buildings, again bringing in new jobs and new income although we're hoping to keep the kids out of the factories until they're sixteen."

"You're not trying to get them off the street?"

"That was the original plan," Quatre replied. "Duo helped us make our goals more realistic. The street kids resist the homes and churches that are already in place. They've got a strong sense of independence and pride and a distrust of authority. So many of them are abused...physically, mentally, and sexually. We need to give them a way to take care of themselves while preventing that population from growing further. Ideally in a generation or two we should have those colonies self supporting and off the red-zone list."

"Is that what your business does? Fix colonies?"

"We're in technology development and resource mining. In layman's terms we have half of our fingers in the raw materials we need to keep our other interests functioning. We either create new technology or improve already existing technology, mostly in the heavy industry realm."

"Do you have something to do for a few hours while we're working?" Trowa asked.

Jana smiled. "You've got a giant library and I should have my next batch of assignments coming in today. You don't need to worry about entertaining me, I'm used to taking care of myself."

"Did it ever occur to you that we enjoy your company and spending time with you is a pleasure, not a chore?" Trowa picked up her guitar and helped her to her feet, "You're far too hard on yourself. You've given us a very great gift, letting us to get to know you better."

"I, um, you're welcome? I mean, thank you?" Jana shook her head. "I'm sorry, I really don't know how to react."

Quatre chuckled, getting up from the piano. "Enjoy your afternoon. I'll have dinner ready for us all at six. If you get bored, I believe Heero is in the gym and your brother is watching a movie. I'm not sure where Wufei is, he does his own thing for the most part."

"I'll be fine, thank you. I'll see you both at dinner."

She took her guitar back up to her room, still taken by surprise at the silent and efficient daily work of the house staff. A quick check on her laptop confirmed that her teachers had forwarded the newest assignments, reminding her that she had upcoming exams at the end of the week and she needed to make arrangements to sit for them.

Getting her homework out of the way would have been the logical thing to do, the responsible thing to do. She was getting tired of being so responsible all of the time. This was supposed to be her vacation too, wasn't it?

She walked down the stairs and into the library, stopping suddenly when she realized Wufei had beat her in there. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you."

He didn't look up from the book he was reading, "You're fine. It's a large room, unless you plan on reading aloud I doubt you'll distract me."

Jana crept around him and over to the shelf Trowa has pointed out to her where the historical accounts of the AC wars were located. She had read through two of them so far but wanted to know more, needed to know more. "Are you interested in history or just obsessed with violent conflicts?" His gaze had slid over and settled on the title of the volume she was holding.

Jana flushed. "Trowa and Quatre were telling me some of what happened and what they were saying hadn't been covered in my history class. I'm related to one of you and getting to know the rest. I've got a vested interest in understanding what you went through."

"You think you can get that from a book?"

"Duo won't talk about it. When the topic came up, Quatre ran for his office. Trowa tried to talk to me about it but it was clear he was uncomfortable with the topic as well. How else am I supposed to learn?"

"The two resources you haven't tried yet. The two resources you keep running away from."

"You're willing to tell me about what happened?"

"I'd consider it. I dislike those tell-all memoirs attempting to capitalize on our experiences. If you're coming from a place of academic interest, it makes it worthwhile."

"What about Heero?" She ventured.

Wufei's mouth dipped into a slight frown, "You'd have to ask him. I'm not going to do it for you because you're scared."

"I'm not scared," Jana protested.

"Oh? What would you call it? I've overheard your conversations with Quatre and Trowa. You're obviously capable of holding a civil conversation but as soon as you sit down with the five of us you shut down completely. As soon as you're able to, you leave and hide in your room. I'm not one to criticize someone for being introverted but there's a line between that and what you're doing. Have you even realized this is the first time in almost a week that you've said more than two sentences to me?"

"I guess I haven't been speaking with you," Jana bit her lip.

"I'm glad you realized that. It's mildly insulting considering we came out here with the primary goal of getting to know you."

"I thought you were coming out here to see your friends."

"That too but I wouldn't have dropped work for a vacation without careful planning without an additional reason. You're important to Duo. You've made a positive impression on Quatre and Trowa. We were interested in meeting you."

Jana sat down in the wingback chair across from his and set her book on the side table. "Can I try and make it up to you? What do you want to know?"

Wufei closed his own book and considered her more directly. "I'd like to know about your background, what your life was like before you met your brother. I could go Heero's preferred route and run a background check but since you're inclined to speak with me I may as well take advantage of it."

"Some of it we've learned from the professor that brought us together. Our mother died when Duo was two and I was just a baby and our father died soon after. Another family adopted me but they didn't take him, he got sent to a home until he left. The professor thinks they took me in because they had lost a little girl around my age to one of the sicknesses that goes around L2."

"What did your parents die from? Duo wasn't clear on the details."

"Same thing, some sickness. You know how they come and go."

Wufei nodded his understanding, his eyes still fixed on her, "Did your adoptive family treat you well?"

"Like their own daughter. I knew I was adopted, they didn't try to hide it. I guess there wasn't a point since my parents were both dead, there was no chance of them trying to reclaim me. Then my adoptive parents died and no one in their family wanted to take me in."

"That's when you ended up in that home?"

"I was there until Duo came and was able to get me out. I thought I'd be there until I aged out."

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen. I turn seventeen in March."

"Sophomore year?"

"No. Junior."

Wufei leaned back in the chair. "Was the home as bad as he said?"

Jana hesitated. "I don't like sounding ungrateful. There are so many worse situations I could have found myself in. I had a roof over my head, three meals a day, and I was able to attend school regularly. Most people in my situation on L2 don't get any of that."

He frowned slightly. "So all they did was fulfill your physical needs?"

She shrugged, staring down at her hands. "I shared a room smaller than my closet here with two of the most obnoxious girls I've ever had the miserable luck of coming in contact with. They were friends with each other and had no use for me so it was easy enough to alienate me from the rest of the girls around my age. I was an easy target, I have trouble standing up for myself."

"Because you're quiet?"

"Quiet and a good student. I'm happier with a book than other people."

"That much I can relate to."

"You were a scholar before the war, weren't you?"

"Mmmhmm. I've been able to go back to it part time."

"What are you studying?"

"Engineering. Some psychology but it's more of a hobby."

"Don't you have a background in engineering already being a mobile suit pilot?"

"I was trained on one specific type of suit. I want to have a broader education than that. With any luck, eventually my current job will no longer be necessary and I need to have something else that I can fall back on."

They fell silent again for a moment. "I have a question but I don't know if it's too nosy."

"I'll let you know."

"Duo, Trowa, and Quatre have so much trouble talking about the war. Why are you even considering it? Don't you have the same problem?"

"It is a little bit nosy but I'll give you an answer. From what I've always thought, Quatre was never supposed to be a soldier, he was always supposed to be a businessman and a pacifist. Trowa was originally involved in building suits, being a warrior wasn't something he was prepared for. Duo was pulled in because of a lack of other options. I would have preferred the quiet life of a student but I was prepared to be a fighter as well. My clan believed in developing both the mind and the body and I wasn't allowed to neglect either. Heero was trained to be a soldier and nothing but a soldier from as far back as he admits to remembering. The two of us were better prepared for what was to come. After the wars we didn't give up the lifestyle completely, the Preventer group is lower key but still militaristic and makes use of the same skills we refined. We can talk about it easier because of our backgrounds and because it's still a part of our lives today. Does that make any sense?"

"Some. Do you always do what's expected of you?"

"Rarely. I prefer finding a path that suits me but as a child I wasn't in any position to object."

"You said your clan, not your parents?"

"They weren't a big part of my life. Their clan was focused mostly on agriculture and basic shop-keeping. Educational opportunities were limited and they realized very early on in my schooling that I was going to surpass what was available and that my skills would go to waste in the fields. They had me evaluated by the masters in a different clan and they agreed to adopt me as long as I accepted their authority."

"You agreed?"

"My parents did for me. If I would have rebelled it would have dishonored them. My clan put a lot of time and resources into my training and eventually I realized that it was to give me a solid foundation so when I started out on my own I'd be able to act with integrity."

"Is that why you got married so young?"

"That's not something I'm willing to talk about but yes." Wufei opened his book again, giving a solid sign that he was done with the conversation.

"I'm just going to leave you alone." Jana picked up the book and ducked back out the door. He didn't respond. He was obviously more at easy with shutting down conversations than she was. "Note to self, don't mention his wife," Jana muttered.

Well, now she had a book but her plan to read in the library was shot. After Wufei's comments, she didn't want to spend the rest of her afternoon in her bedroom. His honesty had cut down the defensive measures she had put up. She had spent so many years at the home wishing that someone would care enough to befriend her that she had given up on it actually happening. Now that it was, she realized she was sabotaging herself, using her introverted personality as a shield. God she was stupid and it had taken a near stranger to make it realize it.

She needed to do something different, she needed to do something completely out of the norm for her. Well, she needed to do her schoolwork but maybe she could move somewhere else and get a change of scenery.

Jana grabbed her laptop and textbooks and jammed them in her bag. "Miss Brigda? Where are the greenhouses?"

The upstairs housekeeper paused in her vacuuming. "Turn right out the front door and walk until you see a shed. Make another right and it's a quarter mile walk but you can't miss them."

"Are they open? Am I able to sit in there?"

"Of course, they're quite lovely this time of year. You're going to want to plan on heading back to the house around 4:30."

Jana nodded, slightly confused. Quatre hadn't mentioned a formal dinner, she wasn't sure why she would need so much time to prepare. She headed out the front door, enjoying the fresh air and finding the directions easy to follow. The six glass buildings loomed up in front of her and she glanced into each of them. It seemed like two of them were for vegetables, one for herbs and flowers, and the other three for fruits. She opened the one with the trees growing in it and walked inside.

The air was warm and humid but it smelled wonderful. She found an outlet to plug her computer into and settled down to work. Maybe it was just the change in environment but she found herself getting through the assignments faster than normal. "I don't think I've ever seen you out here before." The voice cut through the silence of the greenhouse and made her jump.

The urge to jump up, stammer an excuse and run out the door was high. Jana had to take a few calming breaths to force herself to remain where she was. "Quatre and Trowa told me about the greenhouses a few days ago and I was tired of studying in my room. Do you come out here often?"

If Heero was surprised to have her hold up her end of a conversation he hid it well. "Sometimes. I'll bring a book out here once in awhile and if I'm in the mood I'll do some gardening."

"You garden?" Jana couldn't hide the disbelief in her voice.

His expression was amused. "It's a new hobby."

"Are you any good at it?"

"So far? I've got a few houseplants I haven't killed off in the six months I've had them. It doesn't sound like much but it's a start."

"Why gardening? It just seems so pedestrian for someone with your background."

Heero sat down, leaning back against the trunk of one of the trees. "I've got a lot more free time to fill now. We've trained up a few classes of Preventers so our work load has decreased. Wufei is filling his time with classes at the university. I tried that but I was never the student he is. I thought about taking a second job but without a high school education, the only options left open were entry level, police, or military and none of that appealed to me."

"So why gardening?"

"I tried painting, writing, photography, and cooking but my mind is lacking the creative pieces. I wanted something that would let me create something but I needed it to be logical. This fit."

"I suppose." Jana glanced at the clock on her computer. 4:48. "Did you come out here to work on that?"

"No. Wufei mentioned that you had headed out this way and that you might have some questions for me. Since you haven't said much of anything to me since I got here I figured I'd find out what you needed."

"Yeah, I've heard that once today. I'm sorry for avoiding you," Jana glanced up as the light dimmed suddenly. "What's going on?"

"That was the other reason. I was coming out to tell you that you'd want to start heading back to the house. Looks like we're stuck out here for the next few hours. You didn't check the weather report, did you?"

"No. Why?"

"Scheduled rain shower. There's one scheduled every week here and every fourth one is a real downpour."

"Is that why the maid told me to head back around 4:30? I figured it was something to do with dinner but lost track of the time."

Just like Heero had warned her, the rain started started a few minutes later. "So this is what L2 is missing," she said quietly.

"They have rain on L3," he pointed out.

"I'm sure they do but not in the time I've been there. I just can't imagine a colony having so much water that it's able to just fall down and go to waste like this."

"It's not going to waste. Quatre's family put a lot of work into making this colony as fertile as it is. You can't do that without a good hydration cycle."

Jana sat back and studied him more thoroughly. "Something wrong?" Heero asked.

"Not wrong. The way the others talk about you made me think you were quieter. I didn't expect you to be this chatty. You or Wufei actually."

Heero shrugged, staring out at the water running down the glass. "People change. The soldier I was trained to be didn't have any use for casual conversation or personal relationships. I had expected that the other pilots would have been trained similarly but they had a level of humanity I wasn't permitted. It took some months but it was almost a relief when I was able to crack that shell."

"Why?"

"As a soldier, I had my missions. I knew what my purpose was and nothing else mattered. After the two wars I realized that my role as a soldier was over and I had to find a way to survive as a civilian. To do that, I had to learn to connect, relate, and communicate. It wasn't easy, it's still not easy. It's why I wasn't going to push you."

"Just run a background check?"

"Old habits die hard. I knew Duo wouldn't have and I just wanted to make sure you didn't have any suspicious charges or identity thefts. He's dealing with enough right now. Your school record looks fantastic in case you're interested. You're either one hell of a student or really fantastic at cheating your way through."

"The former. I like the schoolwork, I know it makes me a nerd to admit it but it's been a nice refuge."

"Next year will be your last year, right?"

"Yeah. I've been looking at universities but not as seriously as I should be."

"Why's that?"

"I still don't know how I'm going to afford it. Up until I went home with Duo there wasn't any chance that I'd be able to go to college so I never thought much about it."

"Scholarships? Grants? Loans? You're telling me that there isn't a single university in this solar system that would pay to have the sister of a war hero attending it?"

She bit her lip. "I couldn't do that."

"Sure you could. The money is going to go somewhere, why not to you?"

"You may be right, I'll have to look into it and send out some emails. Thanks for the idea."

"Anytime."

She glanced out at the rain again, "How long is this going to last?"

"Five to six is the main downpour. It'll lighten up for the second hour and then stop."

"Guess we're stuck out here then, aren't we?"

"Guess so." Heero pulled out his phone. "Hey Quatre. Jana and I are stuck out here in one of your greenhouses. She's got her computer with her and doesn't want to risk the water damage. You sure? Let me ask." Heero lowered the phone. "Quatre suggested storing it in the tool room and coming back for it later tonight. We can make a run for it if we don't have to worry about your laptop. The grounds staff is done in here for the day so no one has any reason to go in the room."

"Sounds better than missing dinner." Jana shut her laptop down and stored it in her bag before moving it behind a bag of potting soil.

"We'll be back in a few. Apologize to your housekeeper in advance for the water we're going to drip on your floor." Heero disconnected the call and handed her his phone. "Toss that in your bag too if you don't mind. I don't feel like voiding the warranty on it already. Ready?"

Jana nodded and followed him out the door, immediately drenched to her skin. "It's freezing!" She exclaimed.

"Come on." Heero gave her arm a tug. "The faster we move the sooner we can get out of this."

She couldn't remember ever being so cold. The rain covered her from head to toe and at one point, she slid in the mud and ended up falling in a puddle of water. Heero helped her back up and pointed out the manor in the distance.

Her teeth were chattering as they finally entered the foyer. Her hair was glued to her face and she couldn't stop shivering. "Don't worry about the mess, I asked Miss Brigda to run a hot bath for both of you and you need to get into some dry clothes." Quatre's eyes were wide with concern, taking in the sight of both of them.

Jana was too miserable to object. She thanked Quatre and pulled herself up the stairs. Wufei was coming out of his room and she felt his eyes on her but didn't have the energy to say anything. All she wanted was to feel warm and comfortable again.

"Geez, you look like a drowned rat." Duo came up behind her. "Sorry, I didn't think again. I guess you wouldn't have dealt with a decent weather system until now."

"It's fine," she muttered. "Duo, I just want a bath."

"Oh, yeah. Sure. See you at dinner?"

"Yeah," Jana agreed. Then she sneezed.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Jana leaned against her locker. She had been back at school for about a month and still couldn't shake the cold she had picked up on L4. She kept getting light headed through the day but she knew she couldn't take any more time off so soon. "Hey, how do you think you did on the history exam?"

Jana blinked, trying to focus on the voice. "Oh, Clara. It was fine." Why couldn't she focus?

"I guess a test on the AC Wars would be pretty easy when you have a living history book at home."

"No, Duo isn't much of a resource. He hasn't been around much the past week or I could have used him to flesh out some details the textbook was vague on. I learned most of it from the books at Quatre's."

"Still totally jealous that you got to spend a vacation there. When are you going to introduce me?"

Jana slid down to the floor, grasping her head in her hands, fighting back a wave of nausea brought on by the room twisting out of control. "That bad of an idea?" Clara knelt down. "Jana, are you okay? You don't look so great."

"I'm fine, just a little dizzy. I'll be okay, it passes pretty quickly. You're right, I should introduce you. Some weekend when I know Duo is around I'll invite you over."

"The rest of them?"

"They don't come to visit very often. You'll have to be happy meeting one war hero."

"I guess so. You sure you don't want me to help you to the nurse?"

"No thanks. I only have two classes left. I'll take some aspirin and get some sleep after they're done."

"Take care of yourself, alright? You look seriously beat up."

Jana nodded and forced herself back to her feet. Her friendship with Clara was a new experience and she wasn't sure how normal female friendships were supposed to work. She had taken Heero's advice and asked about the chance of getting money for college as Duo's sister. Clara was in the office and overheard the conversation. She decided that Jana was more interesting than she was letting onto and decided to get to know her. Her weeks with the rest of the former pilots had done her some good, she hadn't shut down and run away when the talkative girl had approached her.

Her head was swimming, numbers buzzing around her head through her pre-calculus class and then physics. Both of them usually came to her so easily, it was frustrating not to be able to concentrate on anything. God she needed to get some sleep.

The walk back to the house was more painful than she could have imagined possible. The light was making her head throb and she almost walked out in front of a car twice. All she could think about was changing into her pajamas and crawling into her bed. "Oh good, you're home," Hilde said, looking up from the table. "I need you to stop over at the office for a few hours. We got a few new contracts signed today and I need you to start a file system for employees."

"Hilde, can it wait?" Jana dropped her bag on the floor and sank into the nearest empty chair. "I really don't think I can focus on office work right now."

"Well isn't that just peachy. You know I depend on you for this kind of thing now. I guess you and Duo really are cut from the same cloth."

"I'm sorry, I just need to take some medicine and go to sleep."

"Did you go on a drinking binge too?"

"What? No. Of course not. I'm just not feeling well."

"Right. Maybe I'll decide I don't feel well either and then we can just shut down the business completely. Then we can lose the house and live on the street together. Sound good?"

"No. I'm sorry. Please, is it something I can deal with tomorrow?"

"Why not, I'm the only one who seems to have any sense of urgency around here. Just take your nap. If you feel up to it later, why don't you call your brother wherever he is and ask him if he doesn't mind showing up to work sometime this week."

Hilde slammed the front door, making Jana moan in pain at the sound. All she could think about was her bed upstairs and how much she wanted to crawl into it and sleep for a week but she knew she wasn't going to be able to. The employee system couldn't be too pressing, after all there were only the three of them. They usually only got in two or three contracts a week which usually only took her an hour to open and enter into the filing system. If it made Hilde calm down and kept the peace it would be worth another hour of misery.

Jana pushed her bag under the table and headed next door to where the yard and office were. An hour tops and she could pull down the blinds and hide under the blankets until she died or recovered.

"Guess you're not so sick after all," Hilde remarked.

"Can the employee system wait? I really am sick but if the contracts can't wait, I'll get them done and go to bed."

"Glad to hear you're so dedicated. Fine, do the employee stuff later. The contract folders are on the desk."

Jana shuffled over to the desk and almost cried, there were at least seven folders sitting there. So much for an hour and then sleep. She sighed and stared going through the motions, having to lay her head down several times to make her head stop throbbing. By the time she closed the file cabinet for the last time, she squinted at a clock and realized she had been in there for almost three hours.

"About time." Hilde looked up when Jana dragged herself back into the house. "There's a bottle of aspirin in the upstairs bathroom. Are you coming down for dinner?"

"No, I just want to sleep."

"Fine. Are you going to school tomorrow?"

"Ask me tomorrow."

"Do you know where your brother is?"

"I figured you did. He doesn't check in with me."

"Well apparently he doesn't check in with me anymore either and I'm tired of it. He's been gone for a week and hasn't even called. I'm serious, Jana, this is it. If he calls you, tell him he either gets his ass back here and stays here or he can get out for good."

"I'll let him know," Jana mumbled, picking up her bag and using the banister to pull herself up the stairs up to her room. She thought about the aspirin but once she hit her mattress she knew she wasn't moving again.

The next four days passed in a haze. She moved from bed to bathroom to bed again and lost track of the time. Hilde checked in on her a few times and apparently she looked terrible enough to inspire some sympathy. Hilde bought a supply of sports drinks and some better cold medicine and left it all on her bedside table with a few granola bars.

The fourth afternoon she felt more human than she had in days. She didn't feel like she was back 100% but it was a definite improvement. A shower helped even more, and by the time she was dried off and dressed her stomach reminded her that she hadn't had anything substantial in her stomach since her last school lunch.

Jana looked in the cupboards and groaned. It had been Duo's week to do the grocery shopping and apparently Hilde hadn't bothered to take over for him. A can of soup would have been easy and satisfying but wasn't going to happen. The fridge wasn't much better but she found two eggs, butter and milk. It was better than nothing.

She had just sat down with the scrambled eggs when Hilde walked back in. "Any idea what today is?"

Jana looked up from her plate. "Friday, isn't it?"

"Good guess. It's two weeks since I've last seen your brother. It's been two weeks since I've heard from your brother. Any chance you've heard from him?"

"No, not at all."

Hilde let out a short laugh. "You seem awfully calm about this considering he's up and abandoned you too."

Jana pursed her lips and stared back down at her plate. "I just assumed he was off with one of the war buddies he's always talking about."

"Oh come on, Jana. You can't possibly be that naive."

"What do you mean?"

"He only has four war buddies and you've already met them. These guys that he meets at bars are just random other people that he gets to buy him drinks by telling them sob stories from the war. Your brother is a fucking alcoholic who goes out on benders and hides because he's ashamed to come home."

"No, I didn't know. You didn't tell me."

"His friends didn't?"

"No."

"Well that's just fine. You and I need to have a talk then."

"About what?"

"About the changes I'm making here. If you would have done those employee files you would have seen I've taken on a full time mechanic and a part time junker. I'm done with your brother both personally and professionally, I can't risk my business on someone unreliable who isn't even willing to think twice about my needs or my feelings."

"You're throwing him out?" Jana dropped her fork.

"That's exactly what I'm doing. I'm packing up his shit and storing it in the office. I don't ever want him back in the house again. Unfortunately, he's left me with a loose end."

"Me," Jana said softly.

"Right, you. I was stupid and thought that having you around might stop him from wandering away like this. I assumed that you being here might make him think about growing up and being more responsible which was the only reason I signed those forms. Did he ever bother telling you that they wouldn't accept him as your guardian? He didn't have anything showing he could provide you with a stable life. He and that fucking historian begged me to sign the papers since I own a house and a business."

"He didn't say anything. I never looked at the paperwork, I was just happy to be getting out of there. Are you sending me back?"

"I thought about it. Frankly every time I look at you I want to hit you. You look just like him and it's infuriating."

"I can't change my face," Jana protested.

"Which is why I'm not sending you back. At least you're useful around here. If I sent you back I'd have to train an office assistant and there would be a learning curve to bring them up to speed. With having to train two other employees, it would be too much right now. I'll expect you to continue to keep up with the office work you're already doing for the same terms that you've been under until now. You'll get room, board, an hourly wage and be expected to help out around the house as well."

"What happens when I graduate?"

"If you want to stay longer we'll adjust your job and salary appropriately. You'll start paying rent for your room and we'll work that out of your salary as well."

"What about if Duo comes back or calls? I can't cut off my brother."

"Oh yes you can and you will if you don't want to go back to that home on L2." Hilde stood up and walked over to the door. "I've got work to do. You can either come over with me and do that employee file or go grocery shopping."

"I'll go to the market after I'm done eating," Jana replied. "When do I have to give you an answer by?"

"You have to think about it? Seriously?"

"You're asking me to disown my brother," Jana pointed out.

"Fine, whatever. Tell me by tomorrow." Hilde pulled some bills out of her wallet and tossed them on the table.

Jana forced herself to finish the eggs that had grown cold on her plate. How was this happening? How could she choose between her brother or going back to that horrible home again? She had friends for the first time in her life. She had a guitar again. She was figuring out how to talk to other people and finding out it wasn't so bad and it was all going to be ripped away from her.

She grabbed her jacket and headed out the door. The market was only two blocks away and she took her time, unable to think about anything else. Jana started filling up a cart, barely registering what she was putting in it. Why was she even bothering? She knew she couldn't promise never to see Duo again. He had saved her once, maybe he could do it again.

He was her family. No matter what their relationship was like, no matter what his flaws were, no matter what her flaws were, she needed him more than she needed Hilde and her conditional stability. "Excuse me," she said to a stockboy, "I'm sorry to bother you but I left my wallet at home. Could you put this back for me?"

Jana made her way back to the house, making sure Hilde wasn't inside before sneaking back up to her room. She stacked her schoolbooks in a pile on the desk and sent Clara an email explaining her sudden departure, leaving the laptop with the books. It was all school property and would have to be returned.

She folded her clothes as tightly as possible, packing what she would need into her bag. She was leaving so much but knew she couldn't carry much on her own and she couldn't stand leaving her guitar behind.

Sneaking back down the stairs with her bag and case in hand, she checked all of the rooms before finding Hilde's purse sitting by the microwave. She had never done a dishonest thing in her life but, she rationalized, Hilde owed her a paycheck or two that she would never see otherwise.

Jana dug through it, found her wallet and pulled out one of the credit cards inside. She had filed the bills, she knew what the available balance was. A quick call to the nearest spaceport got her a ticket on a shuttle to L2 that was leaving in three hours. The card went back in the wallet and the wallet in the purse. Hilde probably wouldn't find out until the bill came in and even then, Jana wasn't sure how much she would actually care. She would probably be happier with both her and Duo gone for good.

She took the key off of her ring and left it on the kitchen counter. Jana debating leaving a note but there wasn't any point and she was already short of time if she was going to make her flight. The nearest bus stop was a block past the market, she missed the first one but the next was only twenty minutes behind. Even with her student discount card, she had to dip into the grocery money to pay for the ticket.

It wasn't until she was settled into her seat with her bag stashed over her head that she allowed herself the luxury of relaxing again. If Hilde did try to track her down, she would try the home first. It was the logical place to look for her.

Jana knew she wouldn't be going back there.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Jana coughed and hugged herself against the cool air of the colony. She had set up a little shack with some scrap wood and cardboard boxes against the back half of an abandoned car but the temperature was cooler than she remembered.

She had flown back to L2 with the ticket she had purchased with Hilde's credit card but no matter how much she knew returning to the home would have been the logical thing to do, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Other kids years younger than her were able to survive on the streets, why couldn't she? It wasn't for long, even if she had gone back to the home she would have been out on her own in less than two years. If she could just hold out that long on her own, she could get a job, an apartment and find a way to reconnect with Duo again.

The car was a lucky find. It had been cut apart after an accident but it was easy enough to cover up the open spots with the wood and cardboard she had collected. She found some brush and branches to camouflage the wreck as much as possible. The back seat folded down so she could store her guitar and bag in the rusted out trunk. She slept on the seat, it was cozy but it was too small for any of the street gangs to bother with.

It should have been easy. She went out during the day to different areas of the colony with her guitar and played on the street corners for tips. The money wasn't great but it was enough for her to live on.

Well, it should have been.

Jana hadn't realized how expensive food and water were on L2 compared to the market on L3. The money she was making was decent, but it wasn't getting her three meals a day. Most of the time she wasn't making enough for two meals a day and free water sources were few and far between. When she was living at the home, she had access to water there for regular bathing and drinking. Most stores didn't have public restrooms and the ones that did made sure they were only available for paying clients.

Then, after two weeks, things got harder. She wasn't sure if she got sick again or if she had never recovered completely and her illness had come back. Her energy left her, and her cough lingered, bending her over in half with her hacking. She still went out with her guitar but her cough turned most of her audience away. Plagues were far too common on L2 and a sick girl on the street was an epidemic waiting to happen.

If that wasn't bad enough, after a week of going out sick she dozed off on the street. She woke up freezing to find her guitar, case, and what change she had made that day gone. Despite how dizzy and lethargic she was, she realized how critical her situation had become. She had already used up the cash that Hilde had given her for groceries and now she didn't even have her guitar to pawn.

Leaning against the frame of the car, she bent over with her hacking coughs until she could catch her breath and crawl inside. She wrapped her only blanket around her shaking body and pulled her bag out to see if there was anything left that could help her.

She had brought a few changes of clothes with her but there wasn't much and all of it was dirty. She still had a hairbrush but her hair was beyond help. She had a toothbrush but no more toothpaste, a mostly used tube of deodorant, and a sliver of soap. The tears started rolling down her cheeks, there was absolutely nothing to help her, nothing of any value to trade for money. She had two choices, starve on the street or go back to the home and hope they had space for her.

It was in sheer frustration that she unzipped all of the pockets and shook the bag out with as much force as she could muster. A small tan business card fell out onto the seat that she grabbed for. Quatre had given her one of his cards before she and Duo had left his estate. His office number was printed on the front, the house number hand written on the bottom. She had forgotten about it, had thanked him and shoved it in the bag where it must have eventually fallen to the bottom. He had told her it was in case she wanted to talk or if she needed to get in touch with him in case of an emergency.

"I guess if anything counts as an emergency this does." Jana started digging through her pockets for the little bit of spare change she had left. There wasn't much, maybe enough for a chocolate bar at one of the gas stations. Her stomach growled thinking about it. "Tomorrow," she curled up so she was completely covered by the small blanket, "I'll call tomorrow."

Tomorrow came and she found herself barely able to move. Every step was torture, her vision was blurred and she eventually fell to the ground and started dragging herself back to the nearest street. She didn't know how long it took but she eventually found a video phone booth. The change she had available was enough to get her 7 minutes of call time. The next question was what number to use. She tried to remember the timezone on L4 and failed miserably. She called his office line and hoped for the best.

"Winner Industries. Quatre Winner's office, how can I direct your call please?" A smiling secretary came on the line.

Jana tried to smile back. "Can I talk to Quatre or Trowa please? It's an emergency."

The secretary frowned slightly, "Can you tell me who's calling please."

"Just tell them it's Jana."

"Miss, can you speak up please?

"It's Jana." She enunciated as well as she could, coughing herself into the side of the booth.

"One moment please." The screen went to a hold message as Jana watched her time count down. At just under the four minute mark, Quatre's face appeared in front of her.

"Jana! We called Hilde's looking for you and she told us you stole money and ran off. We've been worried sick, where are you?"

"L2," she whispered. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what? Jana, are you okay? You look terrible. Hilde said you went back to the home."

"I didn't. Quatre, I'm sorry to bother you but I need help."

"Where on L2 are you?"

"Same colony as the home. I couldn't go back there."

"Can you tell me the cross streets where you are?"

"No, I'm sorry. I can't make out the letters and I'm almost out of time."

"Look at the upper corner of the phone, can you read me the ID number?"

Jana rolled her head over to the side. It took a minute to focus but she was able to read off the nine digit number. "Quatre, I'm out of time."

"I'm going to make some calls and get someone out there to get you. Is there a store or a diner you can wait in?"

"No. They won't let me in looking like this."

"Stay close to the phone booth. I'll make it as quick as possible."

"Okay," Jana whispered again as the screen went blank. She slid down the wall, clutching her head.

The taps on the door to the booth made her lift her head and moan. "You, girl. This isn't your bedroom. You made your call, now get out and find somewhere else to go."

"I need to wait here," she protested weakly.

"Not in front of my store. Move!"

Jana groped for her bag and dragged both it and herself into the narrow alley in between the two nearest storefronts. She could still see the corner of the phone booth, she hoped whoever Quatre sent would be able to see her. She leaned back against the wall and then shifted and found herself resting against a few bags of garbage. They smelled terrible but she was beyond caring, they were softer than the brick and she needed to sleep.

She heard the voices arguing when she came to. "Where is she?"

"She moved off somewhere. I don't need that in front of my store. What are you? Her john or something?"

"Her friend. How could you be so completely insensitive? The girl needs help."

"They all need help, bub. Look around you, this entire damn colony needs help. She couldn't have gone far, she was already half dead by the looks of her. Not going to get much more out of that one."

There was some more she couldn't pick out, more blissful silence and then "Quatre wasn't joking, you really do look terrible."

It was a struggle to open her eyes, but she eventually got one open enough to make out the figure kneeling in front of her. "Can you stand on your own?"

Jana attempted to move her legs but just ended up falling over. "It's alright, I've got you. Put your arms around my neck. We don't have far to go and we'll get you taken care of."

She hooked her fingers around one of the shoulder straps of her bag. "Easy, I've got your things."

She let it fall, and tried to hold onto him like he had directed. "My hero," she tried to say, the words coming out as a nearly intelligible mumble before everything went mercifully black.

Wufei lifted her with a frown on his face. She had been slender when he had seen her back at Quatre's but her weight now was dangerously low. He could tell just by touching her that she had a high fever and from the feel and look of her skin, she was seriously dehydrated.

He waved down a cab and climbed into the backseat. "115 Pewter Street," he said shortly.

The cab driver glanced in his mirror. "You like 'em half dead? That's one helluva kink. When that one kicks it, you call me. I can find you someone to help with disposal and if you want something more lively we can find you that too."

"She's not a prostitute," Wufei snarled, "Are you going to drive or should I pay someone else to take us."

"Whatever you say, boss." The driver shrugged and set off.

Wufei shifted Jana's body, trying to put her in a more comfortable position. She let out a soft groan each time he hit a pot hole. "Just hold on," he said softly.

The cab pulled up in front of the building about ten minutes later. The condo building was newer and slightly more stable in terms of amenities than the rest of the colony. The cost of a studio was out of reach for the majority of the citizens and because of that, most of the building was still vacant. Wufei quickly paid the driver, not bothering with a tip after his comment at the start of their transaction. The doorman stepped out, holding the glass front door open with a frown of disapproval on his face. Wufei ignored him, carrying Jana to the elevator and pressing the up button. The door closed and he let out a sigh.

He went up to the 8th floor and dug through his pocket for the key to unit 803. He pushed the door open with his hip, dropped the keys on the floor and kicked them inside so he could turn on the overhead lights.

It was a studio unit, rarely used and sparsely furnished. There was a decent sized bathroom to the rear, a small kitchenette in one corner and a double bed on a simple wooden frame with a small table next to it in a small alcove. The living room was set up with a love seat and a four drawer dresser, a television set on top. Tucked away in the corner was a desk covered in papers, folders, and his laptop. There wasn't a dining room but there were two stools parked next to the counter to provide a place to sit and eat.

Wufei deposited Jana on the bed and pulled the comforter over her. "What a mess," he groaned, picking up the keys and setting them on the desk. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Quatre's number.

"Did you find her?"

Wufei sank down on the loveseat. "Yeah. You were right, she's been living on the street. The store owner that threw her out of the phone booth told me he's seen her around playing her guitar."

"I don't understand. What happened? How could Duo have let this happen? If things were so bad at Hilde's why wouldn't she call us? Why wouldn't she go back to the home if she was that desperate?"

"That's brings me to point number two. She's completely unconscious. She's got a high fever, is dehydrated, has lost a significant amount of weight, and who knows what else. I want to get your opinion before I make a decision. I have very limited medical supplies here, some pain killers and bandages are about the extent of it. She needs fluids fast and since she's not awake, that means she needs be hooked up to an IV or she's going to get worse quickly. The logical thing would be to get her to a hospital but I know how L2 hospitals treat street cases and looking how she does right now, she's not going to get the care she needs. I don't want to put her through another car trip if there's no point to it."

"She's that bad?"

"Worse."

"Can you get the equipment to set up a drip there?"

Wufei considered. "This building does have a concierge service. It's not likely they've gotten this request before but if I call the hospital and tell them I need a few bags and the equipment for Preventer business, I doubt they'll push back too hard."

"I can't get out there right now. I have to leave for a five day conference tomorrow morning. I'm going to send a doctor out to you, a good doctor who'll understand the situation."

"One of your sisters?"

"Good guess. I appreciate you taking the time to go get her."

"Of course. I've already reached back to headquarters and explained the reason for my extended stay here. I've been cleared for as much time as I need. When she recovers, I'll find more about her situation and the theft accusations."

"I owe you."

"Good luck at your conference. Give Trowa my best."

"Bye."

Wufei made a few more quick phone calls and within the hour he was putting together a make-shift IV stand. He glanced at her arms, found a vein and with practiced precision, slipped the needle in and taped it in place.

His phone vibrated on the table. He glanced at the screen, _Iria en route. ETA 1830. Address has been provided._

Wufei checked on Jana again, making sure the IV was flowing steadily. She hadn't moved but her breathing gave him even more reason for concern. There was a raspiness to it that told him there was a lot more going on than a simple fever.

He was typing up a report on his laptop when the knock on the door finally came. "About time," he grumbled, glancing down at his watch.

"Hi, you must be Wufei." The woman in the white jacket shifted her medical bag, reaching out to shake his hand.

"Doctor..."

"Winner," she supplied. "I never married."

"You don't look much like your brother." Wufei stepped back to let her into the apartment.

"No. He very much resembles our mother. I take more after Father's side, I share a lot of features with my grandmother. Is that her?"

"Unless I have another sick girl stashed away in here," he replied dryly.

She glanced at the IV and the needle insert. "Nice work, you need a job?"

"Pass. Do you need my help with anything?"

"You're not her husband, are you?"

"Of course not."

"Then it would actually be better if you gave us a little bit of privacy. Could you give me some soap, a washcloth, and a towel? If she's been on the streets of this colony I can guess at how long it's been since she's bathed. I'll do the exam and get her cleaned up."

"If you need privacy, I'm going to take a shower. Would that give you enough time?"

"I'll wash her up first. Does she have any clean clothes?"

Wufei handed her the bag. Iria opened it and wrinkled her nose. "Clean clothes?"

He was already pulling out clean clothes for himself. He riffled through everything and found a navy blue t-shirt and a pair of gym shorts. "They're going to be huge on her," he warned.

"Anything is better than what she has on now. Take your shower and let me take care of cleaning her up and we'll see what we're dealing with here."

Wufei ducked into the bathroom and rested his forehead against the cool tile of the wall. "Stop thinking about her. She's sick and not even conscious, you have no right to be thinking about her. Clear your damn mind already." He stood still, focusing on his assigned reading for the week until he felt comfortable enough to shed his clothes, turn on the shower and step into the spray.

He knocked on the bathroom door. "Doctor Winner, is she decent?"

"You're safe to come out."

Wufei stepped out, his hair still damp and hanging loose around his face. He looked down at Jana and frowned. "She looks more pale now."

"It's amazing what happens when you scrub off seven layers of dirt. I'm getting ready to run a few tests on her but I'm pretty sure that I know what's going on here."

"What do you think?"

"Pneumonia would explain the breathing and the fever. I'm running a strep test as well. You did the right thing getting her on fluids right away."

Wufei shrugged and went back over to the desk, unable to stop himself from glancing over his shoulder.

Iria went to work with her bag, he heard her behind him and as interested as he was in what she was doing, he forced himself to focus on the work in front of him. "I need to send her bloodwork into the lab to get a formal diagnosis." Iria's voice broke the silence. "I called in a favor at a lab here and they'll run it immediately for me. We'll have the results in an hour or so, they're letting me jump the line."

"If you want to give me the address I'll take it over. I get the feeling she's going to be stuck here for awhile, isn't she?"

"At least a week and I'd feel better with a minimum of two."

"I'll pick up a few things for her. Can you go through her bag and get me sizes for...things."

Iria hid her laughter with a cough. "Of course."

"I should probably go to the grocery store as well." He sighed in irritation. "This place isn't set up for long term occupancy."

"Can you cook?" Iria asked.

"Bachelor food," he replied.

"Lay off fats and anything heavy. She obviously hasn't been eating much so give her a lot of small meals when she's up for it." Iria opened her bag and made a list that she handed to Wufei. "The address for the lab is on the bottom."

He grabbed his leather jacket from the hook on the back of the door and took the box that Iria gave to him. The lab was easy to find and they promised him the results as soon as they were in. They gave him directions to the nearest store that he entered reluctantly. "Can I help you sir?"

"I really hope so." Wufei pulled the list of sizes from his pocket. "I need to outfit a girl who is unable to shop for herself at the moment but desperately needs some fresh clothing. Do you have someone who could act as a personal shopper and just put together everything on this list?"

The store greeter frowned slightly. "It would be easier if we had an idea of style or color preference."

"It doesn't matter, she just needs something to wear that isn't my t-shirt and shorts."

"Of course." The greeter paged a young girl and explained Wufei's request to her. "This is Millie. If you want you can follow her and she'll help you put together what you're looking for."

Wufei followed her into the woman's clothing section and looked around in dismay. "Millie, if I tell you I have complete confidence in your ability to follow that list of items and sizes would you be willing to gather them up on your own?"

"If you're sure. If you don't mind my asking, if she's in such desperate need of clothing does she have toiletries and other personal care items?"

Wufei cursed under his breath. "What kind of grooming items do women need?"

"Shampoo, conditioner, soap, lotion, a razor, deodorant, a hair brush or comb, toothbrush, toothpaste. Does she wear make-up?"

Wufei thought back to Quatre's, bringing back images that were far too clear in his mind. "No. She's ill, I just want to make sure she has what she needs to get by until she can come back here and get everything for herself."

"If she's sick you may want to get her some chapstick," Millie offered. "When I'm under the weather, having dry lips always makes me feel worse. If you want to take a basket and pick out those things, I'll meet you up front."

He could handle this. How difficult could it be to pick up a few bottles and a bar of soap? He found the aisles and cursed out loud. How many types of shampoo and conditioner needed to exist in the universe? How did you even begin to decide which one to use? Wufei picked up two of the nearest bottles, he had never touched her hair, how was she supposed to know if she was oily or dry?

Normal. Normal was safe. He picked a deodorant off the shelf at random. It had a pink lid, that had to mean female. He was momentarily overwhelmed by the variety of brushes and combs but there was a packaged variety set that he grabbed with some relief. Finding a toothbrush and toothpaste was easy enough and he had the teenaged girl shopping in the razor aisle give him the products she used.

It was the idea of the soap and lotion that worried him the most. Women were so picky about what they smelled like, how was he supposed to make that decision for her? He had only been close to her on a few instances and on all of them he had been so focused on her face, on her voice, and how she carried herself that he hadn't noticed any specific smell. Gift baskets, gift baskets were good. Everything was together and everything matched. Now he just needed a scent.

She wasn't the flowery type. The more he looked at them, the more wrong they seemed. Wufei closed his eyes, forced himself to think back on what he remembered of her. She loved books and music, and ate more of that damn fruit salad every morning than any person he had ever met before.

There. That he could work with. He grabbed the mango scented package and added it to his basket, tossing in a tube of chapstick in the same scent. "Good enough," he muttered, meeting up with Millie at the register and paying for everything without a second glance. "Do you deliver?"

"We can."

Wufei scribbed down the address of the condo on the back of the sales slip and handed it over. "There's a doctor inside that you can hand these off to. I have a few more stops to make."

He had never been so relieved to leave a store before in his life. The market was two stores down and by the time he walked in the door, he had almost relaxed again. Almost. He had forgotten about the lack of fresh food on L2. There was very little in term of fruits and vegetables. He grabbed a large bag of rice, eggs, and oatmeal. Thankfully they had milk and juice and he found yoghurt, honey, and apple sauce. The fruit that was on the shelf looked terrible but he found some canned peaches. He filled up the rest of the basket with cans of soup.

"Good timing." Iria looked up from where she was wiping down Jana's face. "The lab just called."

Wufei set the sacks of groceries on the counter. "And?"

"Pneumonia combined with bronchitis and her strep test came back positive. She's one sick girl."

He tried to hide his alarm. "What's her prognosis?"

"Off the street with plenty of fluids and decent food there's no reason why she shouldn't make a full recovery. I'm taking a few more vials to run back at my lab more extensively to make sure they didn't miss anything. We've got better funding and more equipment."

"Family money helps, eh?"

It was her laugh that finally reminded him of Quatre. "I guess you could say that. I called the concierge and they gave me the phone number for the closest pharmacy. I've arranged for them to deliver the medicine I want to get her started on. Do me a favor and tip them well? They generally don't do that but even out here the name Winner greases wheels."

"Did the clothes arrive?"

"Yes and I've already changed her into them. I suggest you wash your gym clothes before wearing them again, the last thing we need is for you to get sick too. Just follow the instructions on the bottles and call me if you have any questions. I left my card on the counter."

"You're leaving already?" Wufei couldn't help the panic in his voice.

"I have to get back to my patients and practice. You're going to be fine. Anyone who can rig up an IV like that can handle giving medicine."

"What about her personal business? I'm a non-related, non-doctor male and she's only been around me a few days, most of which she spent hiding from me."

"She should be able to take care of her own needs if you help her back and forth to the bathroom. I took her in the shower while you were gone and washed her hair for her. I used your shampoo, I hope that was alright. I don't know when she'll feel strong enough to shower again and that should help her feel better when she wakes up."

"Thanks for your help." Wufei handed her the medical bag.

"Anything for a friend. If I get a chance I'll stop in next week unless she takes a turn for the worse. I'll call my brother so you don't have to. He and Trowa are both in a panic over her. She must be someone special to have made such an impression on them."

"Someone special," Wufei muttered, shutting the door behind her.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Wufei had moved to the loveseat and was reading one of his textbooks and taking notes when he heard the rustling from across the room. He glanced up and met Jana's gaze. "You're awake."

Her lips moved but he couldn't make out what she was saying. He slipped a bookmark in between the pages and crossed the room to kneel by the bed. "Where am I?" Jana whispered.

"It's a studio apartment owned by the Preventer organization. We have places like this everywhere we have frequent business. I was already here working on an assignment when Quatre called."

"I feel terrible."

"You're pretty sick. We had a doctor here earlier who ran some blood work. I've got some medicine for you to take, can you sit up on your own?"

"I don't think so."

"Here." Wufei helped her shift into a semi sitting position. "Are you hungry? When did you eat last?"

"Is it still the same day? Two days ago maybe...I think."

"I'll make you something after you take your medicine." He filled up the cap and handed it to her. Jana drank it down with a grimace. "There's only two more."

She leaned back against the headboard. "Thank you for getting me out of there."

"You shouldn't have been out there in the first place but we'll save that conversation for when you can stay awake longer. You need rest and a lot of it. Give me a few minutes and I'll have some soup for you. Do you want anything to drink?"

"I guess I should."

Wufei opened a can and dumped the contents into a pot on the stove before pouring a small glass of orange juice. "It's not fresh but it was the best I could do out here."

"Thanks."

"It's no problem. Let me know if you need anything."

"There is one thing, if you don't have it don't worry."

"What is it?" Wufei gave the soup a stir.

"Chapstick? If you feel weird sharing it don't worry."

"I guess Millie knew what she was talking about." Wufei found the bags from the clothing store and started going through them.

"Who's Millie?"

"The personal shopper who picked out the clothes here for you. When you feel better we can go back and you can find things that suit you. She told me what kind of toiletries to pick up for you and suggested that I get chapstick. I thought she was nuts but I guess girls know other girls far better than I do." He located the small tube, broke the seal and twisted it up slightly for her.

She rubbed it over her lips, paused and sniffed the tube with a puzzled expression on her face. "I didn't have a clue what kind of products you used. You liked the fruit salad at Quatre's so much that I just found fruit scents. Everything is mango. If you don't like it we'll go and replace everything when you're up for it."

Jana smiled softly. "It's perfect."

Wufei fumbled with the pot, pouring a small amount of soup into a cup. He assumed it would be easier for her to drink it than to bother with a bowl and spoon. "Here, eat this and I'll help you lay down again."

She sipped slowly, "You've done so much for me, how can I begin to repay you?"

He shrugged it off and poured himself a bowl of soup, putting the rest of it in a takeout bowl and storing it in the refrigerator. He took his bowl and a spoon and sat next to the bed on the floor. "You don't have to repay me for anything," he replied, digging into his own meal. "I would have done it for any of my friends."

"We're friends?"

Wufei forced himself to shrug. "You have a better label for this?"

"No. Its nice, having friends that I can depend on."

Wufei grunted a response, staring into his bowl. "You've got to know we have questions for you."

"I know."

"Not tonight, tonight you rest. Do you feel up to drinking on your own or do you want me to put another IV bag on to get you through the night?"

"No, I can drink. Um, when you're done eating I do need the bathroom."

"If I help you in and out can you handle things on your own?"

Her cheeks flushed red and she nodded quickly. "Put your arms around my neck," he instructed, helping her swing her legs around underneath her. "How steady do you feel?"

"I have legs?"

He couldn't help the small smile. "Just give me a shout when you need me to help you back."

Retreating from the small bathroom, he busied himself washing the few dishes he had used to make their dinner. "Wufei? Can you help me back out?"

"Can you drink some more before you go back to sleep?" Wufei took her hand and pinched the skin lightly, watching how quickly it returned to normal.

"Yeah. Where are you sleeping?"

"There's a small sofa. I'm fine on that. You need the bed far more than I do."

"I don't want to take your bed," she protested weakly. "I can sleep over there."

"You're not moving. I've slept in far worse places than a loveseat in a heated apartment." He handed her a glass of lukewarm water. "I put a pinch of salt in it to help build your electrolytes back up."

She drank about half of it before handing the glass back to him. Wufei helped her lay down again. "If you wake up and need anything, just call out. I'm a light sleeper, it doesn't take much to wake me."

He thought she nodded but then he realized she had already drifted off again. Wufei glanced at the clock on the microwave and decided that it was late enough for him to turn in. He had a feeling he'd be waking up at least a few times with her so he might as well get what sleep he could.

He grabbed his plain cotton pajama pants and, for modesty's sake, a clean t-shirt and changed in the bathroom. He wasn't exactly sure what the protocol was for sharing a room with someone of the opposite sex that was about halfway between a stranger and a friend. He grabbed his phone and shot off another text to Quatre. _Sister left. Pneumonia, bronchitis, and strep, possibly more. She ate a little, drank some and is sleeping again. Doctor said she would be down for at least a week or two. I'll find out more from her when she can stay awake for more than twenty minutes._

Wufei turned the volume off and stretched out on the loveseat, sitting up and realizing his legs were hanging off the end. He laid back with a groan and attempted to curl up on his side. He should have picked up a sleeping bag while he was out, or at least an extra blanket and pillow.

The phone vibrated by his head. He grabbed it and glanced at the response. _I'm going to cut out of the conference as soon as I can and head out to L2._

 _I can handle things. I've got Sally's approval to stay here until she's healthy enough to leave._

 _I don't want to impose on you. I know you've got enough going on. I just need to handle a few things and then Trowa and I can relieve you._

 _Understood._ Wufei set his phone down again and rolled on his back, staring up at the ceiling. How was he supposed to explain to Quatre that he didn't mind taking care of her when he couldn't even explain it to himself?

He dozed off, waking up several times during the night to check her temperature and at one point he roused her long enough to give her another dose of her medication and have her drink more water. He helped her to and from the bathroom and dozed again.

When he woke again at six, he knew he wasn't going to get back to sleep again. Jana was still sleeping comfortably so he changed into a clean shirt and pair of slacks and started breakfast for the two of them.

"Morning," she said quietly while he was busy at the stove.

"Good morning." Wufei immediately filled a glass and added the pinch of salt. "I'll have something for you to eat in a few minutes. Drink that and I'll give you some juice with breakfast. How are you feeling?"

"Like I've slept for a week and could easily sleep for another," she admitted.

"You can go back to sleep once I get you fed and medicated." He poured the contents of the small pot into two bowls.

"What is it?" Jana inhaled the rising steam and took a hesitant sip. "It's good."

"It's one of the only things I was ever taught to cook," Wufei said, settling back down on the floor. "It's called congee, kind of a rice porridge or gruel. There are a hundred different ways to make it. It's the only thing I remember eating when I was ill as a child."

"It goes down easily." Jana finished it off quickly and took the small glass of juice he handed her. "Thank you for making it for me."

Wufei forced a shrug. "It's the best medicine I could think of. We need to build you back up while you're fighting all of these illnesses. How awake are you right now? Are you going to fall asleep again right away?"

"Not immediately. I guess you need to know what happened, huh?"

"I've been texting Quatre. He and Trowa are worried and all of us are in the dark."

"I really don't know where to start."

"The accusations from Hilde that you stole money from her. Are they true?"

"Kind of. She owed me two paychecks when I left. The ticket back to L2 cost more than that and there was some cash she gave me for groceries that I took with me."

"Why did you leave for L2? I didn't get the impression you had any happy memories from here after your adoptive family passed away. Did something happen with Duo?"

Jana gripped the comforter tightly, her knuckles going white. "Wufei, he's missing. Everything was okay for a week or two after we got back from Quatre's but he went out one night and never came back. He never called or emailed me. I don't know where he is, I thought he might have come back here."

"So why did you leave Hilde's house? You were safe there."

"She made me choose between that and my brother. Hilde said she was done with him and I made her angry because we look so much alike. She told me the only reason she wasn't sending me back to the home immediately was because I was useful to her business. She made it pretty clear that I wouldn't be allowed to see him again as long as I was under her roof. I knew it wasn't right and it was a stupid decision but I couldn't throw Duo aside for a comfortable life, not again."

Wufei silently picked up the empty bowls and cups, rinsing them out in the sink before loading them into the dishwasher. "Why didn't you go back to the home?"

"I was going to, at least at one point. Then the more I thought about going back the more I knew I couldn't do that to myself, I couldn't go back to being the same person I was before I met all of you. I just needed to survive until I was eighteen and I thought I could do it."

"Then you got sick."

"I was already sick when I left. It was one more thing that annoyed Hilde but the streets made it worse," Jana hesitated. "Wufei, before I left, she told me Duo was an alcoholic. She said he'd go to dive bars and trade war stories for drinks. Do you know anything about that?"

He cursed quietly and started the dishwasher running. "Suspicions but I didn't see him often enough to know for certain. I found him fixing drinks late at night at Quatre's a few times but it wasn't a nightly occurrence and I never saw him make more than one. I assumed it was just a bad habit, I didn't realize how far it had developed."

"I'm worried about him," Jana said, tracing the pattern on the comforter with her fingertips before looking up at him with a silent plea in her eyes.

"I don't want you focusing on anything other than your own recovery. Alcoholic or not, I know your brother well enough to know that he can take care of himself in absolutely horrible situations."

"I don't want him to think I ran out on him."

"It sounds like he ran out on you first. I'll see if there's anything we can do." Even sick and tired, when she smiled he knew he would do anything within his power to help her. "You should get some more rest," he said quickly.

Jana nodded and obediently laid back down, "Wufei?"

"What is it?"

"I can't go back to that home but I can't go back to Hilde's. What am I going to do? I can't stay here until I turn eighteen."

Wufei turned and knelt down next to the bed so that he was at eye level with her. "I know you don't know me well and you have no reason to trust me. You obviously had a connection with Quatre and Trowa, trust that connection and trust the two of them. They were in a panic when you went missing and they aren't about to let you end up back on the street."

"The home is a religious backed organization," Jana said with dismay. "They don't let same-sex couples take custody."

"Trust them," Wufei repeated. "Your only focus right now needs to be on yourself."

Her hand slipped down, and wrapped around his first two fingers. "I trust you," she murmured as she closed her eyes.

Wufei let the connection linger several moments longer before he reluctantly pulled away to call Quatre.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Wufei was finishing up a report on his laptop when the knock came. He saved the file with an annoyed sigh and closed his laptop and the folders before answering it. "I didn't expect to see you here." He stepped aside to let Heero into the room.

"Relena's summit finished without incident and my security job was complete. Une forwarded me your notes on Duo and asked me to look into it. How's she doing?"

"Sleeping a lot. She's had a fever that's come and gone the last 24 hours. I contacted Quatre's sister and she said that as long as it doesn't break 103 to keep with the treatment she's already laid out."

"How are you dealing with being cooped up like this?"

Wufei shrugged. "I've got schoolwork to do and I'm running reports and a few basic cyber investigations for Sally while I'm here."

"Desk duty," Heero grimaced, "I thought you hated cyber work."

"I need to keep working while I'm here. My options are limited and even though I'm not as fast with these as you are, they've moved the assignments under me for the time being."

"Need any help?"

"Not at the moment."

"Fine. What do you have for me?"

"Not much," Wufei handed over a file he had filled out a few days prior, "I've made some additional notes on it. I called Hilde and the second she heard Duo's name, she hung up on me. I dialed back, informed her it was official Preventer business and she told me exactly where I could put my business and hung up again."

"Guess that means I'm heading over there," Heero scanned the paper, "No friends?"

"One of the things Hilde threw in Jana's face before she left, that he didn't have friends other than us, just people he met in bars. Jana remembered a few bars and a few first names that Duo rattled off but it's not much."

"I've found people with less. I'll keep in touch," Heero tucked the paper in his pocket and left as quickly as he arrived.

"Who was that?"

Wufei took off his reading glasses and set them down on the desk. "Heero stopped by to pick up some paperwork for a new assignment."

"Oh."

He debated whether he should keep the details from her but decided against it. He sat down on the foot of the bed. "He's been sent to find your brother," Wufei explained as simply as possible. "I passed your concerns onto my boss and she decided it was a matter worth investigating. If anyone can find him, Heero will."

Her body visibly relaxed, assuring him that he had made the right decision in telling her. "I feel hot," she shifted on her pillow. "What's happening to me?"

"It's a fever, Doctor Winner said it's not surprising. I took your temperature a few hours ago and you're holding steady at 102 degrees. Do you think you can drink something?"

Jana nodded but only took a few sips from the glass he handed her. "Hurts going down," she said, shaking her head.

Wufei frowned and pressed his palm against her face. She leaned into his touch with a soft sigh, "Feels good. Your hand is cool."

His eyes widened. Her skin was so soft. If she had asked it of him, he would have stayed in that position all day. God, what was wrong with him? He barely knew her, had barely spoken to her, and yet since he had met her he couldn't help but watch her. His contact with women growing up was limited and they always had specific roles to play. When he enrolled in school, his exposure had increased but his interest hadn't. Then he had seen her, those violet eyes of hers always analyzing, always fearful of something. He had wanted to learn what went on behind those eyes, wanted to protect her and wanted her to know she could depend on him.

In that, he had failed. Her current condition was a testament to that shortcoming. She hadn't trusted him, hadn't gone to him in her time of need. She would rather starve out on the street than go to him for help. Now all he could do was give her all the care he could muster. That desire to help her, to stay by her still surprised him whenever he felt it. It wasn't so long ago that he had such a strong disdain for anyone he considered weak. Then again, while she obviously didn't have much physical strength she obviously had a strong mind. Her willingness to put herself in danger rather than cut off her family spoke to a strength of character he hadn't expected from someone as shy as she had been when they had met.

She murmured again, something he couldn't make out, and rolled back over. Wufei hesitated, wanting to brush her hair back away from her face but pulled back instead and walked back over to his desk, dialing the number on the card Iria had left him. "It's me," he said shortly, "Jana's fever has been lingering at 102 for several hours now and isn't coming down. She hasn't eaten since last night and her fluid intake is way down."

"Wufei, you don't need to panic yet. Hook up another IV bag if you're worried about her fluid levels but again, her body just has to run through this. Strep throat usually comes with a fever at one point or another, I'm surprised she wasn't running a higher one when you brought her in. I'll send over another prescription that should help and ask them to run it over when it's ready."

"Is there anything else I can do to help her?"

Iria paused. "A cool sponge bath couldn't hurt if she's complaining about being too hot."

Wufei cursed and heard her soft laughter. "Relax, Wufei. You don't need to strip her down. Just keep wiping down her face, neck, and arms. It'll make her more comfortable while her body fights off the infection. You'll be fine. Call me in 24 hours if she hasn't improved."

"If she gets worse?"

"She won't. Trust me."

Wufei set the phone on the table. "Right," he muttered before getting out a bowl and a washcloth.

Two days later, her fever was gone and she had regained some of her strength, enough to stay awake for a few hours at a time. Jana was sitting up, eating more of the congee that Wufei had made for her earlier and watching him in the living room. He had changed into a pair of athletic pants and a black tank top while he went through an exercise routine.

Wufei was going stir crazy. He didn't want to risk leaving her by herself yet but without access to a home gym or the work out room in the building, he was feeling the effects. He had started doing push-ups, sit-ups, and squats in the middle of the living room as a poor replacement to his normal routine. He would sell his left kidney for an hour on a track and some decent weights.

He dropped to the floor and started doing one armed push-ups, fifty with one arm and fifty with the other, mentally noting that his left arm was more sore than his right and to add more sets to it the next day. "You can take a break," Jana said from the bed, "I'm feeling much better. Honestly."

Wufei switched positions, about to start his sit-ups. "I will tomorrow. We'll have visitors."

"Heero found Duo?" She asked.

"No. I don't expect to hear from him for awhile. Unless your brother comes back on his own, he's going to take time to track down. We don't have much information and the only person who might, isn't interested in speaking to us. Quatre finished his conference and is heading out here to see you."

"Oh."

"I thought you'd be happier to see him."

"I miss him, both him and Trowa. I guess I'm just worried about what he's going to say."

Wufei leaned back against the sofa and started stretching. "I told you before, trust your friends. We'll take care of you. Did you want some more?" He nodded at her empty bowl.

"I wish I could," Jana smiled, "you're making an addict out of me."

"It's simple to make," Wufei stood up and took her dishes. "I'll show you how when you're stronger. Can I get you anything else right now?"

"It's going to sound stupid, but I feel like I need to get out of this bed for awhile. I want to move around a little."

He frowned. "Do you feel strong enough for it?"

"I guess I won't know until I try."

"I'm not risking you falling. If you want to do a few laps around the room, let me help you. Here, hold onto my shoulder," Wufei sat down and moved her arm into position and wrapped his own around her waist. "Okay?"

Jana nodded eagerly, rising with him. "Whoa," she stumbled forward a few steps.

"That's what I expected. You're feeling better than you have the past few days and it's making you think you're stronger than you are."

"Just give me a second to focus," Jana said, squeezing her eyes shut. "It's less leg strength and more that I'm really dizzy." Wufei nodded and stood still, keeping a firm grip on her. "I'm sorry, this is probably uncomfortable for you."

"Hardly. You don't weigh enough to say so. Doctor Winner mentioned it when she was here, she was concerned about a possible eating disorder."

"You corrected her?"

"I told her if she wanted proof to put you in front of a bowl of fruit salad and she'd change her diagnosis quickly," Wufei replied dryly.

Jana blushed. "It's a treat," she tried to explain, "we didn't get much fresh fruit at the home and there wasn't a big variety on L3. Maybe I overdid it."

"There are worse things to indulge in. I actually found it somewhat amusing."

"I think I can move now," Jana said quietly.

He took her around the room four times before she paused. "Tired?"

"Maybe a little. I feel pretty gross. If Quatre is coming by tomorrow is there any way you'd let me take a shower?"

Wufei blanched but recovered quickly. "Why don't you take a nap and let me call down to the concierge desk. I've got to figure out how we're going to do this."

Jana nodded and was deposited back into the bed. Two hours later Wufei had signed for a chair for the shower stall and a small plastic table where he set out the shampoo, conditioner, and soap he had bought for her. It was a tight squeeze but at least he wouldn't have to worry about her falling down. "I'm going to set you in the chair and you can toss your clothes on the floor outside the stall. I'm going to leave the door cracked and sit outside the door while you take your shower. You should be able to reach the water knobs from where I've got the chair positioned."

"What about when I need to get out?" Jana asked.

"Tell me when you're done. I'll come in with my eyes shut and give you the towels and the bathrobe. I'm sending these clothes down to be washed so you'll have to stay in the robe for an hour or two unless you'd rather change into my spare gym clothes again."

"You really thought this through, didn't you?"

"If Quatre were here, I'd have him help you with this. I'm trying to keep it so we can carry on a conversation while looking each other in the eye. If you have another idea, please let me know."

"I can get up on my own," Jana objected, "It's only a few feet."

"You almost fell over earlier. I'm not risking you adding a concussion to your list of medical issues."

"Fine," Jana slung her arm over his shoulder again and let him deposit her in the plastic seat before he rushed out of the bathroom. She undressed, turned on the water and studied the bottles he had set out for her.

She was realizing day over day how much thought he had put into taking care of her. He could have just handed her a bar of soap and a washcloth but instead he had put everything together and was sacrificing his job, schooling, and personal life to sit around with her. Well, not just sit around. Jana had been awake for his exercise routine and it had been far more interesting to watch than the television he had moved so she could see it from the bed. He normally wore long sleeved button-up shirts in shades of navy, gray, black, and other darker colors with slacks. Nothing prepared her for the sight of him in that tank-top, the muscles in his arms and shoulders flexing and shifting with his movement. She had seen him as a professional, as a scholar, not as an athlete.

It was a nice view, the athletic pants clung to him in ways that her hormones resoundingly approved of. "Jana, are you okay in there?"

"Yeah, sorry. I was daydreaming."

"The water shuts off automatically after fifteen minutes so you may want to hurry up."

Jana started washing her hair with a vengeance, sighing with pleasure as she soaped up and inhaled the smell of mangos. She had just finished rinsing off when the water cut off. "Finished?"

Jana hunched over, crossing her arms over her chest, "Yeah. Can I get the towel and robe?"

He opened the door and shuffled towards her, his eyes clamped firmly shut, just as he has promised. As soon as she had taken the items from him, he rushed back out the door, slamming it behind him leaving her to towel her hair and body dry before slipping into the robe, wrapping and tying it around her as tightly as possible. Standing up was easier this time, she stood still until her legs stopped shaking and she could walk out of the bathroom. "You should have let me help you," Wufei jumped up and immediately walked her over to the bed.

"There's just one thing," Jana hoped she wasn't blushing. "I know you're sending my clothes out with the laundry but umm..."

"What is it?"

"I don't have anything on under the robe. Is there an extra pair of...?"

"Right. Sorry." Wufei started searching through the dresser drawers, handing over the package of panties that Millie had included in the purchases and turned away,

"It's safe," Jana assured him, feeling more secure with the extra layer on.

"I'm sorry, I should have thought of that."

"You can't always be perfect," Jana pointed out, reaching for the comb next to the bed, starting to work it through the tangles in her hair. She had to keep setting it down every so often to rest, a fact that didn't escape Wufei. Wordlessly, he positioned himself behind her, taking up the comb and began working it through her hair.

Jana blushed, she didn't even know how to thank him for that or if she even should. There was a level of intimacy there, his fingers running through her shower damp hair just ahead of the comb, deftly working out the larger knots. It made her realize that she had never seen his hair out of the tail he always kept it in. It made her realize her very sudden and very strong urge to reach back and touch it, to see if it felt as silky smooth as it looked. "Do you do this often?" She asked quietly.

"No," Wufei forced himself to keep looking straight ahead, "it doesn't take much experience to comb hair."

"I guess not."

"Combing it down is about all I'm comfortable doing. I'm sorry if you're used to styling it differently," Wufei handed her the comb back and stood up again.

"No, I'm not overly fussy with it. Thanks."

Wufei jerked his shoulder in what he hopped was a sign of nonchalance. "You should rest again."

"Wufei, is something wrong?"

"No. I have work to do and you need to regain your strength."

"Alright," Jana shot him one more puzzled look before rolling over in the bed to face the wall.

Wufei could tell when she had dozed off again. Then and only then did he let himself rest his head on his hands, let himself inhale the scent of mango.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"Sorry I'm late," Quatre immediately apologized when Wufei opened the door, stepping to the side to let him in.

"Trowa isn't with you?" Wufei glanced behind him with a slight frown.

"No. I had to send him ahead. As much as he wanted to be here, it would have complicated matters," Quatre sighed and pulled off his jacket, draping it over his arm, "Jana?"

"Sleeping. If you're going to be here with her, I'm going to go down to the gym for awhile. She's been out for a few hours so she should wake up soon. If she's hungry just warm up one of the cans of soup for her. Her fluid levels are more stable, there's juice in the refrigerator and tea bags in the pantry."

Quatre wrinkled his nose, causing a small smile to hit Wufei's face. "I know. It's not my preference either but it's the best I can do out here."

"Will she need any of the medications?"

"Not immediately. I've got an alarm set and I'll come back up when she needs her next dose."

"Does she know I'm coming?"

"Of course. I let her know right after you contacted me," Wufei pulled his shorts and tank-top from the dresser. "If you need me for anything call my cell, I'll see your message eventually."

"You've done more than enough," Quatre offered him a smile. "I'm fairly certain I can manage long enough for you to take some time for yourself."

Wufei nodded his thanks and ducked out the door, leaving Quatre alone with the sleeping girl. He hung his coat up and carried his briefcase over to the counter where he could work on some papers and keep an eye on Jana at the same time.

"Wufei?" He heard her whisper.

"Not quite," Quatre set his papers aside and immediate went to sit next to her.

Jana forced herself into a sitting position, unable to hide her happiness at seeing him again. "When did you get in?"

"Less than an hour ago. How are you feeling?"

"Better. Where's Trowa?"

"He's back on L4. There were some things I needed to take care of here that would have been more difficult if he had been here with me. Is Wufei taking good care of you?"

"I don't think I'd get better care in a top rated hospital," Jana admitted. "He's been wonderful."

"How are you feeling right now? Do you want something to eat or drink?"

"Just a glass of water if you don't mind," Jana handed him her empty cup. "You've got questions, probably a lot of them or you wouldn't have come all the way out here."

"I would have anyways, if only to make sure you were recovering," Quatre corrected, handing her back the filled cup. "Are you up for talking about all of this?"

"After everything you've done for me, I owe you some answers. I can stay awake longer now. I'm sure Wufei told you everything I've already told him."

Quatre nodded, sitting down at the foot of the bed. "I guess the biggest thing that's been bothering both Trowa and I is why you didn't call us when things got bad. You had my number."

"I didn't want to be a bother," Jana leaned back against the headboard. "I had only known you a short time and you were my brother's friends more than mine. If Duo had gone off and abandoned me, there was a stupid part of me that figured he was the only thing tying me to all of you."

"That's..."

"Stupid, I know. I've realized that lying here. After all, if Wufei could put his life on hold indefinitely to nurse me back to health, I should have known that I could have called you and Trowa before things got as bad as they did. It was just sheer stupidity and dumb pride."

"I can understand that much," Quatre admitted, "asking for help from people you barely know. It's never easy and you haven't been in a situation where you've felt comfortable trusting other people until very recently."

"That was the other part of the stupidity," Jana sighed. "I was afraid you'd tell me to go back to the home. Between you four and my brother, I was finally learning that opening up to other people didn't have to be painful. If I went back to the home, I was going to lose all of that. I didn't want to be that person again, to go backwards. If you'll excuse the hyperbole, I'd rather die alone on the street as the person I am now than live there as the person I was," her eyes pleaded with him to understand.

He did. "So, that still leaves the question of what's going to happen to you when you're recovered," Jana paled and opened her mouth but Quatre simply held up a hand. "I was supposed to be here a few hours earlier but I was handling some business that I hope you're not going to object to. With Duo missing, there's no blood relative to take custody of you. Hilde has already relinquished her rights back to the organization so you're back in the same position you were in before."

Jana nodded miserably. "When do I have to go back there?"

"Well, you don't. Not if you don't want to. I went over today and after some negotiations, your headmistress reluctantly agreed to let me take custody of you until you turn eighteen."

"You?" Jana asked in disbelief. "But Trowa...they don't adopt out to same-sex couples."

"You're right and our relationship is well known, even out here. That was the nature of our negotiations and the reason why Trowa went back to L4 without me. They were willing to sign custody over to myself only, they won't acknowledge him as a co-guardian."

"Why would they bend policy like that?"

Quatre raked his fingers through his hair. "Your former institution is the recipient of the Winner Technology Department, an updated kitchen, a new roof, and a sizeable monetary donation."

"Oh."

"Yes, well, I still think I'm getting the better end of the deal."

"It's too much," Jana shook her head. "As much as I appreciate it, I'm not worth that kind of money."

"You are and more," Quatre patted her leg. "If you're having trouble accepting it just put it in a different perspective. You coming to stay with us is like charity work for your former home."

"You're trying to guilt me into this, aren't you?"

"Is it working?"

"Kind of. I feel guilty knowing how much I want to agree to this."

"Then do it," Quatre said simply. "You're one of us, you belong with your friends. When Heero finds Duo, he'll have a place with us too and whatever he needs to get back on his feet. I have financial resources, they don't do me any good sitting in a bank. I'm much happier putting them to use in situations like this. I've told you before how happy Trowa and I are having you around, you'll bring some life back to our home."

"What about school?" Jana asked. "I've been wondering what's going to happen there. I should be getting ready to graduate next year but I've been out for so long I don't know if I'll be able to make it all up."

"Trowa is making some calls to a few private schools back home and explaining the situation to them. The home had your school records through the last year you completed and I emailed your school on L3 asking for your records there."

"Am I going to have to repeat the year?"

"Not exactly. I think we'll be able to find a school to admit you on a pass/fail basis for the rest of this year and then we can get you into an academic driven prep school to improve your standing for your final year before you go to college."

"What other options are there?"

"Well, there's always home schooling. I could hire a private tutor to get you through everything if you were set on handling things normally. I'm not thrilled with that idea but it's an option."

"Why not?"

"You said you don't want to turn back into the person you were, I don't think home schooling is going to push you academically or socially. I think you need to be in a school that has a strong basis in your interests and makes you connect with other students like you. You don't have to decide now. You're not going to be leaving this apartment for another week and then you're not going to exert yourself until Iria gives you the all clear."

"Iria?"

"My sister, the doctor who saw you when Wufei brought you here. You weren't conscious so I'm not surprised you don't remember her. You'll see her at some point."

"There's just one more thing I want to ask you. I feel bad asking you for anything else when you're doing so much but..."

"What is it?"

"Do you know of any place where I can get a job when I get the go ahead from your sister?"

"What for? Part of guardianship is providing for your needs until you come of legal age. Obviously we're not going to cut you off at eighteen but I'd rather have you focus on your schooling for now."

"It's not that, it's Hilde. I don't hold any real affection for her after everything she said but she really got the short end of all of this and I hate taking money that wasn't mine. I want to pay her back and I can't take money from you to do it."

"I understand but we'll figure that out later," Quatre paused at the sudden noise and the blush that turned Jana's face bright red.

"Sorry," she stared down into the blankets.

"I take it you're hungry?"

"Yeah. Most of the time I don't even have time to realize it before Wufei does."

Quatre busied himself heating up a can of soup. "You two are getting along alright?"

"He's wonderful," Jana blushed hotter, unable to meet Quatre's curious gaze.

"I know he's not the most talkative person, I was worried you'd be lonely here."

"No, not at all. It seems like all I've been doing is eating and sleeping so I guess I don't bother him much."

"I guess not," Quatre poured the soup into a bowl and handed it to her before sitting back down on the bed.

Wufei had worked himself into a satisfying sweat. He ran on the treadmill for a good thirty minutes and then lifted weights in neat sets until he felt himself hitting his limit. With a sigh of relief he carefully wiped down the equipment and showered, changing back into his normal clothes. His cell phone beeped, making him pause while toweling off his hair.

He gathered up the rest of his belongings and took the elevator back up to the apartment. "It's time for your next dose," he said, setting his things down.

Quatre and Jana stared at him wide eyed. "What?"

"I've never seen you with your hair down," Jana explained.

Wufei shook his head with an exasperated sigh and looked pointedly at Quatre. "It can't possibly be that interesting."

"Actually, I don't ever remember seeing it down either. I'm tempted to take a picture to show Trowa."

"Ridiculous," Wufei scoffed, resisting the urge to hunt down a hair tie just to prove a point. "Here," he handed Jana the first of the medications.

"It's longer than I expected it to be," Quatre attempted to keep an innocent expression on his face.

Jana let out a gurgle of laughter making Wufei pause and glance over his shoulder with a wistfulness that surprised him. They had been living in the same room for a week and he had never made her laugh out loud.

"Wufei?"

He checked himself and turned back around. "Here, you have two more to go."

The rest of the week went by faster than she thought possible. Part of her couldn't wait to go back to Quatre's home and be with him and Trowa again and another part couldn't help but miss the quiet companionship she had with Wufei.

"Everything is washed," he handed her a stack of clothes at the end of the week. "I know it's not much but it should hold you until you get to a store."

"Quatre told me Hilde didn't throw my things out like I expected, she shipped it all back to the home figuring that's where I was going. It's all waiting for me at Quatre's."

"You must be happy to be getting out of here," Wufei collected everything from the bathroom and handed her the toiletries he had purchased for her.

"I guess," Jana stared down into her bag.

"You guess? You can't be happy stuck here."

"I know, it's silly. Either way you must be happy to get back to your work and classes."

Wufei picked up the television and moved it back on top of the dresser. "I've kept up remotely. Being here like this actually reminded me of the AC195 war. There was a lot of downtime in between our missions where we were stuck in different locations."

"Like what?"

"Safe houses when we were lucky, prisons when we weren't. There was a lot of waiting around for something to happen and to get told what our next move was going to be. I think that's everything. The non perishables will keep so I don't have to worry about them."

"Where do you go from here?" Jana asked.

"I have an apartment on L1. It's close to work and the university so it suits me." The cell phone beeped and Wufei glanced down at it. "The driver is downstairs to take you to the spaceport."

"Aren't you coming?"

"No. My flight is later."

"Wufei, I..."

"You don't have to say anything. I'm glad we pulled you through and that everything worked out."

She hesitated next to her bag, feeling that there should be more after two weeks in a room together. She wanted to reach out and hug him, to touch his hand, to connect with him physically one more time but she had a feeling he wouldn't approve. "Just...thank you. For everything."

There was that slight twitch of a smile and a nod of acknowledgment. "You don't want to miss your flight."

"Goodbye then," Jana picked up her bag and walked out the door, shutting it quietly behind her.

It wasn't until he heard the door click shut that he allowed himself to fall back on the loveseat, his head in his hands. A minute later, he forced himself to stand up and go to the window, watching the chauffeur greet Jana and put her bag in the back before opening the car door for her.

She paused before getting in, turning and looking up. Wufei raised a hand in farewell, making her smile and wave back before she climbed in and the door was shut behind her. He stood watching as the car drove away and long after it vanished from sight. He was glad his flight was the same day, the apartment was too empty with her gone.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

February passed into March and Jana settled carefully into her new life on L4. She crawled into the beautiful blue and gold bedroom every night and woke up to the smell of flowers every morning. With her diet full of the fresh food from Quatre's greenhouses, she slowly began to put on weight and her recovery hastened.

"I'm glad to see you." Quatre hugged his sister tightly.

"So Wufei's houseguest is now your ward? Did I understand you correctly?"

"You did. We're rather fond of her and didn't want to see her go back to that home."

"Well, I'm glad you and Trowa finally decided to give me a niece. She's a bit older than I was expecting but I'm not one to turn away a gift."

"She's up in her room waiting for you," Trowa said, walking into the foyer.

"Trowa, it's nice to see you again," Iria said, embracing him. "How are you doing?"

"As well as ever. Thanks for making a house call."

"They usually cost a pretty penny but I'll give you the family discount." Iria's eyes sparkled with laughter.

"I hope you don't mind but we put her in your old room. When her brother is here he stays in the one next to it so it seemed the most appropriate at the time."

"It's been more than a decade since I've lived here. I'm glad it's getting some use again," Iria replied as they walked up the stairs.

Quatre rapped on the opened door before they all walked inside. "Jana, this is my sister Iria."

Jana looked up from the book she was reading and smiled. "I'm glad to finally meet you. Thank you for your help."

"It was mostly your friend following my instructions but I'm happy to finally have a chance to visit with you while you're conscious. If you two can step out for a few minutes, I'll let you know when you can come back in."

"Of course." Trowa pulled Quatre back into the hallway, closing the door behind them.

Iria pulled out a stethoscope and pressed it against Jana's chest. "Take a few deep breaths for me. How's your energy level?"

"Better."

"Back where it was the last time you were healthy?"

"Not completely but it's getting there."

"Give me a percentage?"

"Seventy-five maybe. I still get tired after awhile," Jana admitted.

Iria finished listening to her heart and lungs and pulled out a syringe. "I want to send a sample in to make sure nothing is lingering. Any issues with needles?"

"As long as I don't look at them." Jana held out her arm and stared out the window.

"You're so still you almost take the fun out of it." Iria placed a cotton ball and then a bandage over the small mark.

"Is that it? They really didn't need to leave."

"No, they did. This is the last time you're going to be seeing me in a professional sense. Now that you're family, it would be a conflict of interest for me to continue with your care. I'm going to turn your file over to another doctor in my practice but before I do that I wanted to get a basic health file started on you. Do you smoke or drink alcohol?"

"Neither."

"Date of your last period?"

Jana flushed and shrugged.

"Any chance you could be pregnant?"

"No, not at all."

"Sexually active?"

"No."

"I don't suppose you have any kind of a family health history."

"Not from my biological parents. They died when I was a baby."

"Do you know if it was from a long term disease?"

"It's L2. I heard it was cholera."

"That colony cluster," Iria muttered and made a few notes on the sheet in front of her. "Just to be safe, do you mind if we run a few extra tests and see if you're a carrier for a few genetic issues? If you're considering having children down the line, it could be useful information for you."

"You may as well. I don't know anything that I may be predisposed to."

"It won't tell us everything but it'll be a start. What's your height?"

"5'4'."

"What was your weight before you fell ill?"

"107 or around there."

"That's low for your height. Is there a scale in your bathroom? Can you tell me where you're at now?"

Jana came out a moment later. "101."

"I figured it was around that. You're still very underweight. Wufei said you didn't have an eating disorder, just for my records can I rely on that?"

"You can." Jana's gaze drifted back to the book that she had set aside and to the window. Her head was beginning to ache, more than anything she wanted to lay down and close her eyes.

"I'm going to leave Quatre some diet plans for you," Iria continued. "At this point, unless the bloodwork says differently, you've recovered from your illnesses. The next part is going to be significantly more difficult because I'm not convinced you've ever been at a healthy weight for your height. I'd like to see you put on at least ten pounds. We have a decent home gym here, don't wear yourself out but try out some two pound weights to start building up muscle. Working out may help your appetite as well. Quatre said you're sixteen, right?"

"Seventeen this month."

"I'm sure Quatre will get you to a decent dentist. Have you ever had a pelvic exam?"

"No. I'm not having sex so I didn't see the point."

"If you're almost seventeen it couldn't hurt to have one done but we can hold off if you need to get used to the idea. Do you have any questions for me?"

"Yes." Jana tried to focus on Iria's face more fully. "I want to get a job to pay back a debt. Quatre said he wasn't going to let me get one until you gave me the okay."

"You're not getting it yet. I don't want to see you working, doing any kind of organized sports, or anything else that is going to drain what energy you have. Being at seventy-five percent isn't enough to go back to your normal life. If it's not necessary for school, I don't want you doing it."

Jana sighed and leaned back in her chair. "I was afraid you would say that."

"Cheer up, it's not every girl who had two handsome men to cater to her every whim. Enjoy the pampering for awhile."

"I guess I don't have any other choice."

Iria smiled and opened the door. "I need to talk to the two of them for a few minutes first. We'll be right back in."

"Alright." Jana relaxed against the chair, letting her eyes drift shut.

Iria closed the door and motioned the two of them to follow her down the hall to a small sitting room. "Is something wrong with her?" Quatre asked quickly, worry evident in his eyes.

"She says she's at about seventy-five percent of her previous energy level. I'd put her closer to sixty considering how much she faded after one conversation and one blood draw. She still has a lot of recovery to go. I'm going to go ahead and sign off on her returning to school only because she's missed so much. I don't want to hear about her in any extracurricular activities. No softball, no chess clubསྭjust there and back again. I think that alone is going to take a bigger toll on her than she expects. I know she wants to pick up a job but that's out of the question right now, we'll re-evaluate that in a month or two."

"What is it that you can't say in front of her?" Trowa asked, resting a hand on Quatre's shoulder.

"The conversation was slightly unsettling for me, considering how fond you two are of her. She came off very disconnected, almost melancholy. Is this normal for her?"

"She does take awhile to warm up to people, she's very introverted," Trowa answered.

"It's more than that," Quatre said, reaching up to grasp Trowa's hand. "She was much more energetic when I saw her on L2. She seemed happy when I brought her back here, she seems to enjoy being here with us but you're not mistaken. There's something else that's making her revert back inside herself again."

"Any idea what it could be?" Iria asked. "I'm concerned about her getting depressed and how it could hurt her recovery in the long run."

Trowa shrugged and looked down at Quatre who was staring out the window. "Quatre?"

"It's probably nothing but I'm going to test a theory. Her birthday is two weeks from now. Iria, would you like to come back for a small dinner party that night? I'll let you know the date and time."

"Sure, if you think it would help. I'm going to say goodbye to her for now and be on my way."

"Thanks for coming out." Quatre stood up and gave his older sister a tight hug.

"You take care of her, little brothers. Whatever she's dealing with is going to be easier for her with your love and support."

Iria walked back down the hall and disappeared inside Jana's room again. "What are you plotting?" Trowa asked. "I know that expression."

"Well, it's possible she's really concerned about Duo's well being. No one has heard anything from Heero so she's bound to be worried."

"He was missing when you saw her on L2 and you said she was in higher spirits than this."

"She was. It could have just been that she was happy to see me but I have to wonder..."

"Are you remaining intentionally vague?"

"I think she misses Wufei."

"Okay, that I wasn't expecting." Trowa groped for the chair and sat down hard. "Any reason why?"

"From watching the way the two of them interacted. There were a few times that I started to feel like a third wheel."

"Do you think they're...?"

"Involved? No. He would never take advantage of someone in his care. If he had started a relationship with her, do think he'd abandon her like this?"

"No, I suppose you're right. I guess it's not unexpected, developing feelings for someone who nursed her back to health pretty devotedly. So a small dinner party?"

Quatre smiled and nodded.

Jana started at the high school Quatre and Trowa had selected for her with some reservation. They had shown her the website, taken her in to meet with the headmaster the Saturday before she was set to start classes, but she was still worried it was going to be like her other schools. Other than Clara, she had never found anyone she was comfortable calling a schoolfriend.

The school was like nothing she had ever experienced. The student body was smaller than she was used to and she found them polite, open, and focused. Jana had initially fallen into her old patterns, creeping around the outside of the groups trying to look for the cliques she found the most dangerous: the alphas, the jocks, and others that usually ran the student body.

If they existed, she couldn't find them. There were groups of friends, bonded by similar interests but they had an air of maturity that didn't put them in direct competition with each other. Even the school athletes were focused on keeping a balance between athletics and academics.

There was a well stocked library, well educated teachers and well funded music and art programs. It was, in other words, the most perfect high-school she could have tried to imagine. It only took a few days for her to start speaking up in class, to start engaging the other students in discussions about their schoolwork.

More than anything she wanted to join the glee club or the female barbershop chorus but Quatre and Trowa were adamant that she follow Iria's restrictions. She had to be satisfied with the regular chorus which she found more enjoyable than any in her previous schools. "How was school?" Quatre's driver opened the back door of the car and held out his hand to take her bag.

Jana handed it over, still not comfortable with having so many people doing simple tasks for her. "It was fine, thank you. I had a test in history."

"Do you feel you were prepared for it?" The driver slid into his own seat and pulled into traffic.

"As well as I could hope to be after only a week of classes. I found a good study group during my free period and by helping me catch up, they found themselves doing some pretty intensive review on their own so we all came out ahead."

"Do you have any plans for the weekend?"

"Nothing at all. It's my birthday today so maybe Trowa will sit through one of those romantic comedy movies that I like."

"Happy Birthday! Are you eighteen?"

"Seventeen."

"You're mature for your age I suppose, it makes me think you're older than you are."

They chatted aimlessly the rest of the trip until the car pulled into the circular lane in front of the house. "I hope you have a great rest of your birthday."

"Thank you." Jana took her bag back from him and hoisted it over her should before walking up the steps and in the front door.

"Happy Birthday!"

Her bag fell to the floor. She gaped, she couldn't help it. During the time she was at school the foyer and dining room had been covered in streamers and balloons. "Is this for me?" She finally squeaked.

"Unless you know someone else with a birthday today," Trowa teased gently.

The tears that came to her eyes were too fast to hide. "Thank you...so much. I can't remember the last time anyone ever made a big deal over my birthday."

"That's what families do," Quatre said, settling a small plastic tiara on her head with a smile. "We wanted to surprise you."

"You did," she sobbed, throwing her arms around first him and then Trowa. The housekeeper and house staff were there and she couldn't help but show them the same affection.

"You hadn't mentioned anyone from the school that you were friendly with yet so we just thought we'd have a nice dinner tonight with family," Trowa said.

"That sounds perfect. Let me just take my bag upstairs."

"I can do that for you," Brita took her school bag. "You enjoy yourself."

She did just that. Quatre had sent word out to all of his siblings, her new aunts, and three had come home for the party along with Iria. They retreated to the less formal sitting room and got to know each other until the birthday dinner was ready.

Her birthday dinner was wonderful, topped off by a beautiful cake adorned with sliced of freshly sliced mango on the top. They sang the birthday song to her and cheered when she blew out the candles. "Is everything okay?" Trowa asked softly as she stared down into her half eaten piece of cake.

"I can't thank you all enough, it's all wonderful. I just can't help but wish Duo was here too. This should have been my first birthday with him that I could remember."

"There will be others," Iria patted her arm.

"I know just the solution," Quatre nodded at his butler who left the room and returned with two of the housemaids, setting a pile of cheerfully wrapped gifts in front of Jana.

She unwrapped the pretty blouses, selection of costume jewelry, bath sets, and slippers. Jana had just unwrapped the package from Iria; a journal with thick cream colored pages and an engraved silver pen. "Thank you, everyone. It's so much more than I deserve."

"Hardly," Trowa slide another package across the table towards her. "This is from Heero. He wasn't able to come back for the party but sent a gift and a note."

Jana opened the birthday card and scanned the note that fell out. "He still hasn't found Duo but he's traced him back to the Earth," she said, unable to hide the surprise in her voice.

Quatre and Trowa shared a quick look. "He never really talked much about his time on Earth," she said softly. "I didn't know he'd want to go back there."

"We all appreciated our time there, but all of us were space dwellers at heart. I didn't know he was attached enough to go back there." Quatre looked to Trowa who nodded his agreement.

Jana gazed down at the note for another moment before setting it aside and carefully unwrapping the paper. "The Utopian Battlefield: An In Depth Analysis of the AC195 and AC196 Wars," she read the title out loud only to hear both Quatre and Trowa groan in unison. "Is something wrong?"

"I'm hoping I'm wrong, but who's the author?" Quatre asked.

Jana glanced back down again. "Dorothy Catalonia, why?"

"I was afraid of that."

"Do you know her?"

"Better than we would have liked," Trowa grimaced.

"Then why would Heero send me her book?"

"It's an early release copy, the book isn't supposed to come out for another few months but there's a lot of talk about it already. He knows you're interested in learning more about the wars and if you can ignore her reverence for battle, the early reviews are calling it one of the most detailed and thorough accounts out there," Quatre explained.

"You don't sound like you like her very much," Jana noted, flipping through a few pages.

"It's hard to like someone when they stab you during a fencing match," Quatre rubbed a hand over his chest.

"Should I send it back?" Jana asked uncertainly, looking between Quatre and Trowa.

"It's your birthday present. I'm not convinced it's the best book he could have sent you but Heero doesn't do anything without a reason.

"I think I'm going to have to call it a night," Iria stood up, their other three sisters following suit.

"Thank you all for coming. I was happy to meet you."

"Welcome to the family."

"Very happy birthday!"

Jana walked them out into the foyer, shutting the door behind them as they left and breathing a quiet sigh, leaned back against the stairs. The evening had been practically perfect but it had also been completely exhausting.

The soft knock at the door made her jump to her feet. One of her aunts had probably forgotten something. She opened the door and her heart almost jumped up into her throat. "Sorry I'm late," Wufei walked in. "I saw Doctor Winner and the others leaving so I guess I missed your party."

"I didn't know you were coming," Jana murmured.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better. Not perfect but better. How have you been?"

"The same as usual. Happy Birthday." Wufei handed her a small wrapped package.

"Wufei!" Quatre exclaimed. "I was beginning to think you weren't able to make it."

"I had to finish up a report for Sally first and then got pulled into a last minute meeting so I left later than I intended. I should have sent word." He had to feign indifference as Jana unwrapped the small package he had brought with him. He had agonized over her gift since Quatre had called him a week earlier. His first instinct was to buy a nice bathset and send it off with his regrets and best wishes. Then he realized he had purchased the same thing for her when she was sick, it was hardly a festive idea.

What was he supposed to get for her to show that he was thinking about her and that he cared about her without crossing the line into boyfriend territory? She wasn't interested in him like that and even if she was, there were rules upon rules against dating your friend's siblings. Even with his very limited experience he was fully aware of that.

A book, a book was safe. He knew she enjoyed reading and he had an idea of the topics that interested her. Wufei had nodded in satisfaction at his own idea and headed out to the nearest bookstore after his classes that day.

It was purely by coincidence that he had noticed the little gift shop. He must have passed it dozens of times without looking at it.

He tried to present an air of indifference, watching her unwrap the simple yellow wrapping paper and open the white gift box. "A jewelry box?" Trowa asked, looking up at Wufei with a question in his eyes.

Jana skimmed her fingers over the lid of the wooden box where the outline of a lily had been carved into the surface before the wood was sealed. "It's beautiful."

Wufei felt himself relax, seeing the happy smile on her face. "Quatre mentioned the earrings he got you, I assumed you could use a place to put them.

Jana skimmed her fingers over the rest of the box and encountered a small piece of metal at the bottom. "It's a music box?" She looked up at Wufei who barely nodded an acknowledgment. She wound it up and opened the lid, breathing in the smell of new wood as notes played and formed a familiar sounding ballad. "It's...that song Quatre and I were trying to work out as a duet. You remembered it?"

"It sounded familiar."

"Wufei...it's perfect. Thank you."

He forced a shrug. "I'm glad you like it.

"Do you want any cake or coffee?" Quatre offered.

He seemed to be hesitating but eventually shook his head. "I just came over to drop off her gift in person. I have class in the morning and need to get back to L1."

"You came all this way just for ten minutes?" Quatre asked, unable to hide the disbelief in his voice.

"That's right. Jana, I hope you have a very happy birthday. I'll be in touch."

"Alright. Have a safe trip back. Thank you for coming by."

Wufei gave them a nod and a small smile before closing the door softly behind him. Jana stood there clutching the box, looking at it until she remembered Quatre and Trowa were both standing behind her. "I guess I'm worn out," she admitted. "Thank you both so much for tonight and everything you've done."

"You're welcome." Quatre smiled, returning her embrace.

"You should get some sleep," Trowa urged.

It wasn't until they heard the open and close of the door upstairs that they turned back towards each other. "So?" Quatre asked.

"You were half right," Trowa allowed.

"Only half?"

"Mmmhmm. When have you ever known Wufei to travel when it wasn't needed and for ten minutes?"

"He may have known it was important to her." Quatre walked over to the silver service set on the table in the living room and poured them each a cup of coffee.

"How do you explain the music box? A gift that thoughtful?"

Quatre pursed his lips and gazed into the cup. "She's almost two years younger than him. I always assumed when he found someone it would be someone older."

"She's mature for her age and they have some shared interests. Are you opposed to it?"

"No, of course not. I'm not going to tell them who they can and can't see, I'd just be surprised if he pursued her."

"Because she's your ward?"

Quatre shook his head. "Because she's Duo's sister."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Jana sat back in the dark movie theater, barely paying attention to the psychological thriller playing on the screen in front of her. Her eyes slid to the young man that was in the seat next to her. His name was Taegan and he was one of the guys in her group of friends.

It was so strange, thinking of people as her group of friends. She had finished out the school year better than she and Quatre had hoped. With the help of her new friends she had finished out her junior year with a strong list of As and Bs. She hadn't had to take the pass/fail option in the end and she was looking forward to being able to join some of the school clubs when the next semester started up.

Iria had finally released her back to a normal schedule. Quatre hired her to work in his home office part time and after a few weeks, she mailed off a money order to Hilde and started saving up her paychecks for her own use. She went out with her friends once or twice a week. Everyone had paired off and Taegan had taken a liking to her. They had gone out on group dates and double dates but this was only the second time they had gone out alone.

He was a great guy. He wasn't overly tall but still had a few inches on her. His hair was dark blonde and on the long side which he normally kept back in a short tail. She was most attracted to his eyes, a shade of hazel that always seemed to be laughing. He played bass guitar in the school band and in the select jazz band, acted in the school drama productions, and still achieved mostly As.

He should have been perfect for her and she did enjoy spending time with him. She wished that she felt more of a spark when she was with him. She didn't want a passive relationship, she wanted what Quatre and Trowa had. She wanted the obvious passion and singular devotion they had for each other. They could share one look and light the air between them on fire. In comparison, her relationship with Taegan left her feeling lukewarm.

"Hey, you okay?" Taegan reached over and squeezed her hand. The credits were scrolling across the screen and the other people in the theater were shuffling around and leaving.

Jana forced a smile. "I'm fine. Sorry, I guess I zoned out."

"Not your type of movie?"

"Not usually but it's okay."

"Next time you'll pick, deal?"

It was so easy being around him. "Sure. Thanks."

"Are you hungry? Lorita sent me a text and everyone is at the pizza place around the corner."

"Sounds fun."

He held her jacket for her to slip into before grasping her hand and walking her out and down the street. "Hey, lovebirds!" Lorita waved at them where she and four others were sitting in a circular booth towards the rear of the restaurant. They were all there crowded around: Lorita, Zeke, Emi, Marcel, and Aran.

Zeke slung his arm over Lorita's shoulders. "How much of the movie did you two watch?"

"Hey, cut it out." Taegan motioned for Jana to slide in ahead of him and then gripped her hand under the table.

"Here, help yourselves," Lorita offered, motioning at the two half eaten pizzas.

Jana took a slice and nibbled away at it, listening to the rolling conversation of her friends. Would she ever get used to thinking that way? It had taken her seventeen years to finally find people who appreciated and accepted her without hesitation. Her group. Her friends. Would it ever feel natural?

"Jana?"

"What?"

They erupted in laughter. "What were you thinking about?" Emi asked.

"Me, I hope." Taegan dropped a quick kiss on her mouth.

Jana smiled. "Good guess."

"My parents wanted to throw us a party and rented a beach house for the weekend after next. They'll be staying there with us of course, and there are separate rooms for boys and girls. Do you think your guardians will let you come?" Aran repeated, pushing his glasses up on his nose.

"Probably. I'll ask them tonight."

"You don't have to work?" Zeke asked.

"I've got an in with the boss," Jana joked.

"Sure, if you want to go," Quatre agreed easily. "His parents are going to be staying there with you?"

"Of course. He said there are two big bunk rooms, one for girls and one for boys."

"You worked hard this year. You've earned it." Trowa smiled.

"Mr. Winner, there's a phone call for you." Brita stepped into the living room.

"Thank you." Quatre switched on the video phone in the living room. "Quatre here."

Jana felt her breath catch as Wufei's face came on the screen. "Quatre, are Trowa and Jana there with you?"

They stepped into frame. "Is it about Duo?" Quatre asked.

"No. Heero got pulled away from his search for security duty. Relena won't accept any other guards so it's currently on hold until her conference tour is over. He's doing what he can while he's doing his bodyguard work. My classes are on break at the moment but the university is holding a weekend set of seminars and lectures. There are several about the AC wars and I thought Jana would be interested in attending them."

"When are they?" Trowa asked.

"The weekend after next."

"She was invited to a party the same weekend," Quatre explained.

"I see. Enjoy your weekend."

"Wait!" Jana exclaimed. "I think I'd rather go to the lectures if that's alright."

"You'd rather attend lectures and seminars than spend time with your friends?" Wufei's eyebrow shot up, his tone skeptical.

"Yes, I honestly would. I didn't make a commitment to them yet, I'll just let them know something else came up for the same weekend. They'll still go without me."

"Is there a hotel near your university?" Trowa asked.

"No need. If you're comfortable with the idea, she can stay the night at my apartment. I'll sleep on the couch. We've used this arrangement in the past without a problem."

"Are you sure? We have no problem paying for a room for her."

"Unnecessary and there isn't one as close to the campus as my apartment. You'll also end up paying more than the room is worth. Since most of these presentations are final projects and dissertations the nearby hotels are reporting as full. I'm sure your name could get her a room but there isn't any point."

"Jana, are you okay with that?" Quatre asked.

"It makes the most sense," She agreed.

Sitting on the shuttle two weeks later, she still felt a twinge of guilt. She had been honest with her friends about what had come up and although they didn't understand how she could prefer lectures to a weekend at the beach, they accepted her choice.

Well...all of them except Taegan.

"I don't get it," he jammed his hands in his pockets and leaned against the wall of her bedroom, "don't you want to go?"

"I want to do both but I can't."

"Then why choose that? You'll have enough lectures to go to when you go to university."

"I'm really interested in the subject matter because of my brother and his friends. I've already looked through next year's history book and it's the same thing as every other year. I want to hear more than that."

"So talk to Quatre and Trowa about it some other time."

"It's not that easy. Wufei is willing to help me from an academic standpoint and I really want to take advantage of this."

"I just thought this was going to be our weekend together. I mean, call me a sap or whatever but I liked the idea of taking a walk on the beach at night."

"Taegan, I'm sorry."

"So am I. I'd have a lot more fun if you were there with me. I need to get going."

"Alright."

Jana exited the shuttle with the rest of the passengers. She should have changed her mind, should have gone with her friends but somewhere in the back of her mind she realized that weekend would have ended with him wanting to take their relationship up a level and she wasn't sure if she would be able to put him off in that atmosphere.

"Do you have a bag with you?" Wufei appeared next to her almost immediately after she had exited the boarding area.

"No, just the carry on. I'm only going to be here overnight." Jana fell in step next to him as he guided her out of the port and to the street.

"How was the trip out here?"

"It was fine. I'm still not used to flying business class but it's a Quatre thing. Where are we going?"

"Straight to the university. The lectures start in an hour and I'd rather not be late. Here, I highlighted the ones I thought you'd be the most interested in but if you want to change anything around, let me know. I'll be outside when the lecture ends to take you to the next one."

"You're not going to them?"

His mouth shifted into an ironic smile. "I can honestly say I've experienced enough of those wars for one lifetime. I'm going to be attending some other sessions and I have my own presentation to make."

"What is it on?"

"I doubt you'd be interested. I'm breaking down an engineering theory that's become prominent recently, analyzing the merits and shortcomings, and theorizing a way to improve upon it."

"Unfortunately you're right," Jana admitted.

Wufei shrugged. "Just because you have different academic interests doesn't make me lose any respect for you. On the contrary, anyone who is willing to give up a fun trip with their friends to further their own knowledge should be commended for their choice."

Jana blushed with pleasure. "Do you need to change or freshen up?" Wufei asked, glancing over at her.

"No, it was a short flight. I should be fine. Is there a place where I can drop my bag off so I don't have to carry it around with me?"

"I share an office with three other teaching assistants but you're welcome to keep it in there. Do you need a notebook or a pen?"

"No. I brought my own. I brought the book Heero gave me for my birthday as well. I'm not sure how much use it will be but it's far more detailed than my history book."

"That's Dorothy's book, isn't it?" Wufei asked.

"Have you read it?"

"No. I'll pass. I never met her during the wars but I have several times since then. She's a very eccentric woman."

"How did she write her chapter analyzing you and your personal impact and fighting style if you've never met?"

Wufei stopped short and looked at her in disbelief. "She did what?"

"There are chapters focusing on the five of you individually, as a group, and other notable figures."

"Now I'm really going to have to avoid it," Wufei said with a groan. "Please, do me a favor and don't tell me what she wrote about me."

"If that's what you want, of course."

"Actually, one thing. Please tell me that she didn't use the words 'dragon' or 'warrior'."

Jana stayed silent, unable to keep herself from smiling. Wufei groaned again and drew his hand over his face. "Really?"

"They're both in the chapter title."

"Dammit."

"Sorry."

Wufei hailed a cab and held the door open for her, sliding in after her. "You're smiling." Jana commented.

"I guess so. I was just thinking about the last time I was in a cab with you. I prefer it this way."

"No argument here." Jana unfolded the list of lectures he had handed her and scanned the highlighted selections. "These look interesting."

"I skipped the ones that focused on the mobile suits and technology. You didn't seem to have much enthusiasm for them."

"I can tell them apart, mostly by color, some of them by weapons, but you're right. I'm more interested in the people than the machines."

"There's one session I indicated that isn't history related. You can skip it if you want obviously but considering current circumstances I thought you may be interested."

Jana scanned the columns until she found it. "A psychology lecture on addiction?"

"To better understand your brother." Wufei clarified.

"I didn't think you were implying something about me. You put a lot of thought into this, thank you."

They dropped her bag off and Wufei led her through the maze of buildings. "Your first lecture is here. When it's over, just wait on the bench over there if I'm not here already. I won't make you try and navigate this place on your own."

Jana smiled and turned into the lecture hall where the seats were filling up. She took a deep breath, trying to force down the sudden anxiety that made her want to slink back out the door.

No, not when he had made such an effort for her.

Jana waited a moment for her head to clear, for her stomach to settle and then deliberately moved down towards the center of the room, taking a seat towards the middle of the row. She opened her notebook and sat back, keeping her eyes focused on the stage in the front of the room. She was so focused on presenting a confident air she didn't notice Wufei hesitate in the doorway, making sure she was settled before leaving for his own room.

Once the lights dimmed and the presentation began, she found herself relaxing as she took careful notes. The first lecture was one focused on military strategies engaged by the major powers. The woman carefully contrasted everything from the pacifism in the Sanc Kingdom to the mechanical militarization embraced by OZ in the AC195 war. It wasn't her favorite topic but the student's research was thorough and well presented. It kept her engaged until the woman thanked them for their time and the lights came back on.

Voices filled the room upon the dismissal. Jana packed her supplies up and shuffled her way out of the row and into the hallway that was beginning to swell with bodies moving from one lecture to another. Jana ducked around people and collapsed on the bench Wufei had indicated with a sigh of relief.

"Are you alright?" He was quieter than the crowd but somehow it was easy to hear him over the din around her.

"A bit overwhelmed I suppose."

"Your next lecture should be a bit more interesting for you. You have plenty of background on the topic but it should help to connect to the wars which seemed to be a key point of interest for you."

Jana looked down and scanned the description. "It's going to be hard to be an impartial observer but it'll be an interesting one. I take it you'll be avoiding it?"

"Like the plague. I have no desire to listen to someone who has never spoken to me analyze me and my role in the AC196 war."

"Duo talked to me a little bit about that one." Jana stood up and followed Wufei through the corridors and back outside. "He said you were fighting on different sides?"

Wufei was silent for so long that at first she thought he had decided not to answer her. "I had some issues I had to work out for myself after the first war. There were things that happened on my missions that left me with demons I needed to deal with and it took me down a different path than my former comrades."

"You were so open about the AC195 war, I never realized we had never gotten to the other one."

Wufei guided her around a pack of students with a hand on her elbow. "I won't lie to you, I've been avoiding the topic."

"Why? You seem so comfortable with your past."

Wufei shrugged and held the door open for her. "My lecture is in this same building this time, just a floor up from this one. I'll meet you back down here after mine, I'm not expecting it to go the full length. I'll wait for you out here."

Jana nodded her thanks and walked into the room, much larger than the first lecture hall and already more than 3/4 full. "You know Wufei?" A young woman shifted so Jana could slide into the empty seat next to her.

"He invited me out here for the lectures. He's a friend of my brother."

"Rayan Harper." She offered her hand.

"Jana Hoverton. Nice to meet you. How do you know Wufei?"

"We share an office. He grunts at me a few times a day so we're practically best friends from what I can tell."

Jana couldn't help but laugh. "You're interested in the wars?"

"I'm a political science major. I'll be up there doing a presentation next year so I'm going to as many as possible this year to see what sources they used in case I need to reference any of them in my own project. You aren't a university student, are you?"

"No, still in high school. I'm a bit of a nerd and Wufei thought I'd enjoy coming to the lectures. I actually passed up a weekend at a beach house to come here."

"You are a nerd," Rayan said appreciatively, "even I'd have trouble making that choice. No wonder Wufei likes you."

Jana blushed and busied herself with her notebook and pen. "I think he's helping me out as a favor to my brother. They're close."

"You don't say." Rayan took Jana's chin in her hand and angled her face towards her. "I thought you looked familiar. Hoverton?"

"Our birth mother's name."

"There are only two of the five Gundam pilots I've never met and your brother is one of them. He and Trowa Barton don't do the lecture circle like the other three. Meeting you is an unexpected bonus."

The lights dimmed and the noise from the audience hushed as the lecturer went into her presentation. Jana had read a few of the volumes she cited for her research but found it hard to detatch herself from her personal experience with the young men being discussed to consider the points objectively. It was hard to think of Quatre as naive, Wufei as misguided, and Trowa as sly and underhanded. The men she was talking about didn't seem to have much resemblance to the ones she had become familiar with.

"What did you think?" Rayan asked when the lights came on.

"It was well organized," Jana replied diplomatically.

"It wasn't worth our time. Everything she said I learned doing research papers my freshman year. There was nothing that showed any real effort or introspection. Come on."

Jana followed her out into the hallway where Wufei was sitting on a bench, a book in his hand and making notes on a stack of papers. "Hey, Wufei. I found your girl."

He looked up and eyed Rayan. "Oh, it's you."

"Glad to see you too. I like your friend, she's nicer than you."

Wufei's gaze drifted over to Jana and softened considerably. "You're not wrong. Anything interesting?"

"I didn't think so," Rayan pulled a tube of chapstick from her purse.

"I didn't expect you would."

"It wasn't what I expected from a college level lecture," Jana said quickly. "It wasn't as well informed as the other one."

"What's your next seminar?" Rayan asked.

Jana pulled the list out of her pocket. "Romefeller, OZ, and White Fang. Comparing and contrasting organizational philosophies."

Rayan whistled. "That's a mouthful."

"Yes, well, if it's all the same to you I need to get her over for it," Wufei said, standing up.

Rayan followed them over, keeping up a steady stream of conversation until they were standing in front of the closed lecture hall door with a large 'Lecture Cancelled' sign taped to it. Wufei cursed under his breath and glanced down at his watch. "How do you feel about the melting points and durability of different metals used in mobile suit manufacturing?"

"Relax, Wufei. She can hang out with me until you're finished. I don't have another one for two hours."

"It's up to you," Wufei said to Jana with a shrug. "I know it's not a subject that interests you."

"If it wouldn't offend you, I think I would prefer to sit that one out," she admitted.

"Great!" Rayan exclaimed. "Are you hungry? We can go over to the union."

"I guess I am a little hungry."

"Here." Wufei handed her his student ID card. "You can use this to pay. I'll meet up with you afterwards."

"Awesome, let's go!" Rayan tugged at her hand, pulling her out the door.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Duo coughed and wiped his nose with his dirty sleeve. The roar of noise from the camp was making his hangover worse. He was desperate for another drink, desperate for another hit of anything to dull the sharpness of the light and the pounding in his head. He had been hanging out in the hippy commune for...Christ he couldn't remember anymore.

He had always appreciated the North American continent more than the rest of the planet. Europe and Asia had a grace and refinement that didn't suit him. North America was loud and brash and more to his liking.

The camp was a lucky find. He had been hitching around since he decided to leave space. Somewhere in the midwest he had met the sweet faced middle aged woman who was heading back to the camp after spending time in the east. What was her name? Why couldn't he focus? Daphne? Daisy?

She had let him sleep in her tent. He had fucked her, pushing back thoughts of Hilde with every thrust. It was violent, aggressive, and harder than any other encounter in his life. In the back of his mind he hoped he was pushing out every last ounce of need for her, ever last urge to return back to her.

Clover, that was her name. She seemed to enjoy it, had shouted her enjoyment and screamed his name, urging him to fuck her harder, fuck her faster. Well, actually she had screamed the name Beau but it was close enough. For her, for the camp, he would be Beau. He had been living in that musty tent, sharing her dirty sleeping bag, and fucking her routinely every night since he had landed there.

There was food, that was a bonus. He was able to shower and wash his clothes every once in awhile and there were always bottles and joints being passed around. It helped on the nights where he woke up gasping for air, falling back in time to a dark prison cell where every breath was a struggle and he was convinced each one was going to be his last.

He had pushed those days so far to the back of his mind that he couldn't talk about it to anyone. It had taken years for him to admit that the reason he had stayed with Hilde for so long was because he couldn't stand being in a room by himself. If he woke up with another person next to him, he could jam the blankets between his teeth, clamp down on it and scream in his head until the feeling of panic and breathlessness passed. When he was alone, there was no buffer between him and his memories. The darkness would press down on his chest, squeezing the air from his lungs until all he could hear was the hollow thud of his own heartbeat in his ears. He couldn't talk about it with Hilde, couldn't talk about it with Jana, couldn't even talk about it with Wufei who had shared those uncertain days with him. Wufei had faced down death with stoicism and strength, doing everything in his power to hold out and take advantage of every last breath. Duo had moaned, sulked, and given up like the coward he was. It was a habit of his, giving up easily. He had done it earlier in the war when Heero had found him in a jail cell and threatened to kill him. He was willing to sit back and let him do the deed with hardly an objection. Even Quatre would have fought for his life more than Duo had.

Then again, Quatre's life was worth more than Duo's.

That was why, like a coward, he had fled L3 without a word. He couldn't deal with his memories anymore, couldn't keep pushing them back on his own to live the kind of life Hilde expected. He wasn't the man she deserved and it was time to stop pretending that he could be.

The pot and the booze helped him to forget the people he had left behind but it wasn't until a newcomer to the camp had introduced him to a syringe of heroin that he felt everything melt away and get replaced with a glorious numbness. He had been searching for that sensation for so long, the ability to stop feeling, to stop thinking, and to stop existing as Duo Maxwell.

Clover's snoring kept him up all night, a foul taste lingering in his mouth and the high from the previous night waning, leaving him desperate to bring the feeling of nothingness back. Suddenly every stain on the tent, every rank smell from the sleeping bag and the stale scent of their desperate fucking invaded the rest of his senses. Suddenly, there was nothing more pressing than his need to get out of there. Getting away from there. Getting away from her, those smells, those sounds, those people.

He slid away from her as smoothly as possible and stuffed his clothes into the bag he had brought with him down to the Earth. A quick search unearthed Clover's stash of pot and cash, both of which he shoved in his bag. Creeping through the camp, he dug out a few half empty bottles of whiskey and moonshine from the scattered passed out bodies around the campfires. Even better than the booze, he found a small stash of the black tar heroin that he has come to rely on as his favorite escape along with three syringes that were still in their plastic wrappings.

If they ever found him, they'd kill him for stealing the drugs but there was no way they'd be able to find him where he was going.

Jana sipped at the lemonade she had bought with her lunch and gazed out over the crowded room. Rayan had found a group of her friends already there and they had made room for the two of them. Their interest in her had risen significantly when Rayan had explained her connection to Wufei and who her brother was. "Jana? Hey, colony to Jana!" Rayan giggled.

"I'm sorry, what?"

The small blonde girl smiled at her. "I asked how long you've know Wufei for."

"About eight months now, give or take."

"He's quiet. I haven't seen him with any other friends on campus before, have you?" The blonde, Ivy, looked to Rayan.

"No, it's one of the things that impressed me. I figured if Wufei enjoyed her company she had to be a magician or something."

"What kind of magic tricks do you know?" The dark haired boy gave her a quick wink and a slow smile.

Jana blushed and bit into her wrap sandwich. "Knock it off, Davan. You're embarrassing her," Rayan chided.

"She's pretty cute for a high schooler. You sure you're not in college yet?"

"Not for another year."

"You should come here after you graduate. I'd love to show you around."

"Um, thanks?" Jana found herself getting even redder.

"You idiot," Rayan scolded, "you think Wufei is going to let you move in on his girl?"

His girl?

"I'm not that suicidal," Davan said with a laugh and picked up his tray. "I've got to get to my next session. Ivy, you coming?"

"Sure am. It was nice to meet you, Jana."

The rest of the group disbursed, leaving Jana and Rayan sitting at the table. "Sorry about that, they're a bunch of dorks."

Jana smiled. "No, they seemed nice. I'm glad you introduced me. When I wanted to come out here for the lectures, I didn't expect to interact with anyone other than Wufei."

"Level with me? Are you two an item?"

"No."

"You're the first person I've ever seen him socialize willingly with. He obviously has a soft spot for you and just 'no'?"

"It's not like that between us." Jana tore the green tortilla shell into pieces on her plate.

"Mmm." Rayan took a drink and leaned her chair back against the wall. "You want it to be, don't you?"

Jana knocked over the empty lemonade cup, picking it up quickly with a shaky hand. "Please don't ask me that."

"Guess I don't need to. You finished? I can walk you to your next lecture."

"Sure. Thanks."

"No sweat. You know, I tried for him for months but I don't think he ever noticed. I know at least a dozen girls on this campus who have hit on him and gotten nowhere. I was beginning to wonder if he played for another team or if he didn't play at all. I guess none of us were his type."

"I think he's just focused," Jana said, maneuvering around a group of students. "He's on a different level than me. I've dealt with my parents dying, the orphanage, finding and losing my brother and what else? High school? He's got a full time job and he's a full time student not to mention he was a war hero before he was sixteen. He's on a whole different level from everyone else I know."

"He's still a man," Rayan pointed out, "a strange one but he is still a man."

"I suppose."

"He's a man who spends an awful lot of time eyeing a girl and trying to figure out what he wants to do about her." Rayan's smile was sly, obviously enjoying Jana's blush.

Jana was led to another building, another lecture hall and settled into another seat. "It was nice meeting you." Rayan waved goodbye. "Wufei said he'll pick you up here. If I don't see you before you leave, Wufei can give you my email if you want to keep in touch."

"I'd like that. Thanks for the company, I had fun."

"Same. See you!"

Jana turned around to face the stage, the seats around her filling up until an elderly man got on the stage and announced that the lecture was cancelled due to illness. The rest of the audience grumbled and vacated the room quickly. Jana sighed and pulled out the sheet Wufei had given her and scanned through the time list to try and figure out where he would be.

There wasn't any guesswork needed. His presentation was scheduled for the same time frame in the same building she was already in. Jana got up and got directions to the conference room he was in. She cracked open the door and slipped inside, letting in as little light as possible before sliding into a seat in the very back row. It was larger than the halls she had been in up until that point and almost every seat was taken.

The light from the projector cast him in a spotlight. Jana was able to study him uninterrupted. He had his glasses on, she knew he usually only used them for reading or when he was working on his computer. She wondered if he actually needed them for his presentation or if he was trying to get his audience to view him as a scholar, as an intellectual peer. How many people in the audience were there because they cared about the information and wanted to hear what he had to say and how many were in the room because they wanted to look at a war hero?

"You sat through it?" Wufei's eyebrow shot up.

"The other lecture was cancelled and I wanted to watch you present."

"And?" Wufei picked up her bag from the floor of his office and slung it over his shoulder before guiding her out of the building.

"You have a way of making people want to listen to you. That room was packed and I didn't hear a whisper from the audience."

"Most of them didn't care about what I was saying."

"You're right but I think they learned something from you before they left. Are we taking a cab?"

"No, my apartment is within walking distance. You've seen the extent of my kitchen skills so I figured we could go out tonight, there are a lot of places to eat in this area. Do you have a preference?"

Going out to eat with him? Sitting across a table from him? It was so much more intimate than sharing fast food somewhere. "Jana?"

"I'm not fussy. I like most everything I've tried."

"Have you had much Chinese food?"

"Not really. I'm open to it if you think I'd like it."

"They have some Western dishes if you don't like anything else. We can take your bag back to my apartment and you can freshen up or change...whatever you need to do."

The elevator doors opened on the sixth floor and Wufei guided Jana down to the end of the hall. "It's a fancy building," Jana commented.

Wufei didn't say anything, just unlocked his door, flipped on the recessed lighting and stepped to the side so she could walk in around him. There had only been two other people who had set foot in his space before her. He was fiercely private and found pleasure in his solitude. When he had the uncommon urge to socialize, he went out to do it and saw no need to bring it back home with him. This was new ground for him, he wasn't sure how he was supposed to act.

Jana walked in, looking around. She wasn't entirely sure what she expected his apartment to be like but it certainly wasn't anything like what she was seeing. Everything was modern and tastefully done. The walls were a soft gray with dark wood paneling at the floor and ceiling. The floors were the same dark wood, a few area rugs in simple geometric patterns of black, gray, and sage green were scattered around. The furniture was all black with accent pillows in the matching shade of green. There were tasteful prints on the wall, mostly with an obvious Asian influence. There was a large shelving unit dominating one wall with a small television on one shelf, a sound system on another. The rest were full of books, a small collection of movies and CDs, and various small pieces of art.

He hung back, his body language making him seem ill at ease in his own home. "Did you decorate it on your own?" Jana asked.

"Not at all. I was living out of boxes and milk crates and sleeping on a mattress on a cheap frame that I dragged here from my room in the barracks. My boss got annoyed and told me if I was spending the money to own a place like this that I needed to act like it. She asked me what I wanted out of it and I told her I wanted a place that was self maintaining that I wouldn't have to fuss with all the time. I wanted to come home and relax. This is what she came up with."

"Do you like it?"

"Well enough. We've known each other for years, since the wars, and she understands me better than anyone else."

"You trust her?"

"Enough. She's one of two people I've let in here before you so I guess that says something. The bedroom and bathroom are back this way if you want to leave your bag where you'll be staying."

"What's the other room?"

"I don't have company so I set it up as a home gym. You're welcome to use it if you want. There isn't much in there, just a treadmill, weight machine, and some free weights."

"I may take you up on that," Jana stepped in his bedroom and glanced around. Everything was neat and perfectly positioned. The queen sized bed was perfectly centered between two night tables. The dresser was against the wall across from the bed, again perfectly centered. There was a large leafy plant in the corner. Jana touched a leaf and realized it was fake, obviously there to provide color and atmosphere to the room. All the furniture was made out of the same dark wood, darker than the floors in the apartment. The bedspread was a dark gray, shot through with silver threads that matched the pillow cases and sheets. There were a pair of simple silver lamps with black shades on each of the tables, one of the tables with a digital alarm clock docking bay for his cell phone.

"Is everything okay?" He came up behind her.

She nodded. "I guess I was just trying to get a sense of you in here."

"And?"

"It's not there on the surface but the more I look around, it does feel like you. The entire apartment feels quiet, like if there was a party here it would ruin it. I feel like I'm out of place being here."

Wufei leaned against the doorway, considering her presence in his space. "I asked you here, that makes all the difference. I'm going to change in the bathroom and then you can have it. I'll be in the living room when you're ready to go."

Jana changed out of her skirt and blouse into a clean pair of heather gray slacks and a deep indigo turtleneck, folding the other clothes into her bag. Was what she was wearing appropriate for the restaurant? Should she have kept on the skirt outfit? She had never been to a Chinese restaurant, she had no clue what the dress code was.

There was a soft rap on the bedroom door. "The bathroom is yours," Wufei said from the other side.

Jana murmured her thanks and took her toiletry bag in with her. Wufei had cleared a spot on the counter for her belongings. Even though she was only there for a night, he was trying to make her feel comfortable in his space. She scrubbed her face with the washcloth he had left out for her, patting her face dry with the towel it had been sitting on. She ran her brush through her hair and gazed at herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were pink from the washcloth but the rest of her face looked pale. She could see the nervousness in her own eyes looking back at her. She felt ridiculous, Rayan had put too many thoughts in her mind, too many possibilities.

With a sigh, she pulled out the tube of sheer lipgloss from her bag and put it on. Not for the first time she wished she knew how to do more with cosmetics. Right now, more than anything, she wanted to put on a mask to cover up all the nerves that she was focusing on.

She straightened up the small area, minimizing the space she was taking up and leaving it as neat as the rest of the area. Wufei had changed into a pair of khaki slacks and a different button up shirt, this one a brighter shade of blue than she was used to seeing him in. He looked her up and down quickly, setting aside the newspaper he was reading. "Is this okay?" Jana asked. "I didn't know how formal to dress. I can change back into the skirt if that would be better."

"No, you look fine. It's not fancy, but the food is good. Let me get your coat for you. We can walk there but it might be cool on the way back." He held it out so she could slip into it before shrugging on his own and leading her out the door, locking it behind them.

"So, what did you think?" Wufei asked a few hours later as they left the restaurant.

"I liked the fish the best but those dumplings were really good too. What do they put in the rice?"

"Different spice profiles and different sauces than you're probably used to. To me, this type of food tastes a little like home. It's not completely authentic but the flavor profiles are there."

"You don't talk about it very often, do you?"

"No. The loss of my clan is something that I still have trouble thinking about. When Quatre lost his father, his family surrounded and embraced him after the wars and they dealt with the loss together. There was no one for me to grieve with, they had all been killed."

"Your parents?"

"Same colony, different area. They weren't a part of my life at the time but I would have liked to have the opportunity to reconnect with them afterward, to show them that their sacrifice meant something. I feel the loss of them. It's not as deep of a loss as I feel for the people who raised me, but it's still something I carry."

"I can understand that," Jana followed him down the street. "I don't have any memory of my birth parents but it still hurts knowing they're gone."

"I should have realized you would relate. I'm beginning to understand more people would if I gave them an opportunity to do so. It's never been easy for me to make personal connections like that with people, it feels like I'm saying things that I was meant to keep quiet."

"Soldier training?"

"That's a big part of it," he agreed. "I can tolerate a lot more than I used to, people like Rayan used to drive me crazy. Now I can stand being in their company without the urge to self destruct."

She wasn't sure he would answer but had to ask. "So why are you able to speak to me about all of this? Is it only because I'm Duo's sister?"

Wufei paused, resting his gaze on her face. "I don't know. Something about you is comfortable for me. I'm not sure if it's your connection to my friends or if it's because your personality is similar to mine. I've been trying to understand it for months now and haven't come any closer to an answer."

She felt her cheeks heat up but a rustling from the alleyway they were passing by followed by a loud yowling and screaming made her jump back.

Wufei whipped out his cell phone and turned out the flashlight feature, shining it around the area. "Cat fight," he said with a shake of his head.

To confirm his theory, a large cat hopped out of a dumpster and sat in front of them, considering their presence in its territory. The cat was mostly white, spotted with black on its side and a black diamond on its forehead. The chunk missing from one ear and the awkward angle of the tail indicated past fights the cat hadn't walked away from unscathed. "Poor kitty," Jana murmured, kneeling down and holding out her hand.

The cat stared a moment longer before picking itself up and slinking over, bumping her hand with its head and starting a low rumbling purr when she gave it a few cautious pets. Wufei watched her stroking the cat, watched the smile spread over her face when the cat flopped on its side and rolled over, exposing its stomach, getting up with a shake. It was only when the large cat let out a high pitched meow that didn't match its frame at all that he felt something inside him warm. Without a word to Jana, Wufei ducked inside the small bakery next to the alley. He returned quickly. "The cat is a stray, it drives them nuts with all the screaming fights every night."

When the cat was on its back, it gave Jana an easy assessment of its sex. "He's probably defending the only home he has."

"Had. He's moving."

"What?"

"I hope Quatre doesn't mind you cat sitting when I'm on longer assignments," Wufei put down a cat carrier that the bakery owner had found in the back room and loaned him. He opened the door and dropped a piece of chicken inside. The tom cat caught the scent and bolted into the carrier, barely noticing the door shut behind him until Wufei lifted the carrier up and started walking with it.

"You're going to take him home?"

"I guess so."

"You don't strike me as a pet person. Your apartment is so clean and organized, are you going to want him in there?"

"I like cats. We had them back on L5 to keep rodents out of the shrines and storehouses. There were a few that tolerated human attention and I spent a lot of quiet time with them. I've thought about getting one before but didn't think it would work with my job and the traveling I have to do. Consider yourself a co-owner."

"I'll check with Quatre and Trowa but I don't think they'll mind. They're dog people but they don't have any of those either."

Wufei paused in front of a pet supply store. "Think you can manage the carrier rest of the way home? I'm going to ask them for whatever we need for him. I'll find a vet next week and get him checked out to make sure he's not sick."

He ducked into the store. He was absolutely 100% insane. What was he thinking? He was gone all the time, how much time could he spend with a pet, even an independent one?

Still, that look on her face, the look on the cat's face...it was like the two of them had recognized they needed each other and he wasn't going to stand in the way of it. "Can I help you?" The shop girl asked.

"I apparently just adopted a cat. Other than food, what do I need to buy?"

"Have you ever owned one before?" The girl asked.

"Not like this," he admitted.

"Okay. You're going to need food, litter, litter box, bowls, treats, toys. Are you in a house or an apartment?"

"Apartment."

"I'd suggest some kind of a scratch box to save your furniture. Where did you adopt your cat from?"

"The alley next to the bakery."

"Good for you! I'd also suggest some flea shampoo and treatment. Get to a vet soon, I'll put some cards in the bag if you need a referral, but treating sooner rather than later isn't a bad thing."

"A flea collar?" Wufei glanced at the shelf she had nodded at.

"I'd use the drops."

Wufei nodded his thanks and gathered up everything she had mentioned. Her smile was genuine as she rang him up and swiped his credit card. "You did a wonderful thing. I hope you two have a great life together. Please come back and let us know if you have any questions or if we can help you in any way."

"I will. Have a good night." Wufei adjusted the bags in his arms and walked back out to where Jana was kneeling next to the cat carrier, scratching him through the gaps in the wire bars.

"Were you able to get everything he needs?" She asked.

"I think so. Let's get him home."

They walked back up into his apartment where Jana set the carrier on the floor with a sigh of relief. "Heavy?" Wufei asked, hanging his jacket up and reaching to take hers.

"He's a big cat," she admitted, rubbing her arms.

"Let me get his litter box set up, I want him to see it right away. I don't know how easy it is to box train a cat but I guess we're going to find out." Wufei pulled out the plastic bin and the bag of litter, filled it up, and pushed it under the small table he had in the entryway. "Go ahead."

Jana opened the door, allowing the cat to creep out, low to the floor, and start searching around the apartment. "Let me set out his food and water," Wufei picked up the rest of the supplies and carried the bags into his kitchen.

"What are you going to name him?" Jana asked, following him.

Wufei set the two full bowls down in the corner. "I'm not sure. The only thing I've ever named is my Gundam. Why don't you name him? He bonded with you so quickly, it feels like you should be the one to do it."

Jana studied the cat who was making his way around the living room, sniffing at the different pieces of furniture. "He makes me think of a fighter who's just realizing he doesn't have to battle anymore."

Wufei dropped a package of cat treats on the floor, stooping to retrieve them quickly. Was that why he had agreed to all of this so quickly? Was there a part of him that recognized a piece of himself inside that stray cat?

She had reached out to the cat, found something in the cat worth loving and caring about.

"Maybe not a fighter," she continued slowly, "not a soldier at least. He's not that disciplined."

"You're saying he's like a Yakuza or mafia?" Wufei closed the cabinet and leaned against the counter.

"That's exactly it," Jana agreed.

"So?"

"Domino."

"Somehow you went from the mafia to a child's game."

"The game is Italian and look at the spots on his side."

"Italian and Chinese," Wufei corrected. "It's beginning to feel oddly appropriate. So we have a cat named Domino."

Jana smiled, watching Domino creep into the kitchen and dive into his filled food bowl. "Thank you."

"Hm?"

"I didn't want to leave him out there but I didn't think I had a choice. You realized what I wanted and fixed it without me having to ask you."

"It was the right thing to do. You don't have to thank me for it." Wufei closed the cupboard and turned around. "It's still early, do you want to watch a movie or would you rather go to bed?"

"A movie sounds great."

"I don't have a big selection but go ahead and pick something out. I'll be out in just a minute." Wufei headed to the back of the apartment, leaving Jana to walk back into the living room and look through his movies. She eventually found a set of documentaries on the shifting political eras on the Earth. Wufei came out a few minutes later carrying two bottles of water. He glanced at the disk and put it in the player without a word, handing her one of the bottles and settling on the couch.

Jana hesitated, initially planning on sitting on the opposite end of the couch from him to give herself a table to put her water bottle on. In her moment of hesitation, Domino wandered in from the kitchen and hopped out on the couch, in the exact place she had just decided on. With no other option, she sat down in the middle of the sofa trying to keep a respectful amount of distance between the two of them.

Two hours later, she realized that she had made a horrible error in judgement, she hadn't bothered to look at the run time of the documentary. She was tired but didn't want to be rude and leave in the middle of the movie so she sighed and settled back, forcing back the yawn that threatened to come out.

Wufei nearly jumped when he felt the contact. He had been aware of her waning energy level and had been about to suggest he send the movie back with her to finish but must have dozed off as well. She had fallen over onto him, her breath warm against his arm. He leaned back only to have her snuggle closer into him, murmuring something he couldn't make out.

He wanted to stay like that all night. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and bury his face in her hair. It scared him how much he wanted all of that, how close he was to telling her everything, to throwing it all out there and stripping himself bare.

Domino let out a quiet meow, bringing Wufei out of his thoughts. As much as he wanted to, he knew he couldn't. She didn't know what she was doing and he wouldn't take advantage of that. He had promised Quatre and Trowa that she would stay in the other room and he would sleep on his couch. He had to stay true to his word.

He slipped away from her and carefully picked her up. Jana murmured a protest, resting her head against his chest. Moving quietly, he took her back to his bedroom and deposited her on the bed. She was going to have to sleep in her clothes until she woke up and changed herself. He wasn't sure how to get her under the blankets, eventually pulling a spare blanket from the closet and covering her up with that.

His gym shorts and a t-shirt were stored in the bathroom. He changed, and turned off all the lights behind him as he made his way back to the couch. Laying down with another sigh, he pulled the throw blanket off the back of the couch and tossed it over himself. He closed his eyes and was about to drift off when he felt Domino jump up on the couch with him, curling up behind his legs. The cat wasn't the girl he wished he was cuddled up with but the rumbling purrs had a soothing quality of their own. He reached behind him to stroke his new pet until they both drifted off to sleep.


	16. Chapter 16

Authors Note: I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has given me a favorite or a follow so far. It makes me smile every time I get that notification so I really appreciate the support from you all. If you have a spare minute and are inclined to leave a review, I'd appreciate that too. I'm only a few chapters ahead of what I've posted and I'd love to see what you think so far so I can fix it going forward if need be.

Onto the more serious stuff...this chapter is where some of the warnings from the front page kick in. You're going to find talk of rape, pedophilia, and suicidal thoughts. I didn't take it lightly writing it but tried to make it as easy on my readers as possible in terms of wording. So again, if you're not comfortable reading about those subjects, this is probably where you should get off the story-train.

Chapter 16

There were shadows behind her, striking forward at her. She cried out in pain and fell forward, certain that she was going to be killed. She recognized the cruel laughter from Jolynn and Mercy, the scathing last words from Hilde, and so many other people she had tried to put behind her. She saw the faces of her adopted parents in front of her, saw them ripped away from her again.

She saw Duo turn his back on her and walk away from her desperate pleas for him to come back. There were those voices again, whispering about how she was unloveable. They were laughing about how even her only blood relative didn't want to be around her. Those words ripped away the strength she had built up, stripped away everything she had worked so hard to develop in the past year.

How many more times would she have to lose everyone she cared about? How many more times would she be left alone? How much more could she take before she shattered beyond repair?

It was down in that darkness that she felt herself enveloped by another presence, one that silently shielded her from everything on the outside. She folded herself inside of it, she could smell him all around her. The scent was so subtle, something earthy that made her want to keep inhaling. There was something so warm, so secure about him that made her want to snuggle deeper, made her want to stay there forever. She couldn't tell if the demons from her past were still behind her, for some reason it didn't matter anymore.

She knew that feeling...she had felt it that first night at Quatre's. It felt like she had come home.

Jana felt herself waking up, clinging desperately to the final threads of her dreams from the night before but they slipped away from her too quickly. She kept her eyes closed, turning into the pillow and catching the scent all over again. With a start, she opened her eyes and realized she was lying on his bed in her clothes from yesterday. There was a blanket over her, Domino curled up on the bed next to her, his side rising and falling slightly.

Carefully, so not to wake the cat, Jana slipped out of the bed and pulled her last clean set of clothes from her bag, changing quickly before moving silently into the bathroom. A quick scrub up and she hesitantly walked into the living room. Wufei had folded the blanket he had slept under and set it neatly on the back of the couch but he wasn't in the room. "I'm back here." She heard him call from the second bedroom.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep like that last night," Jana immediately apologized. "I don't remember walking back to your room, I must have been more tired than I thought."

Wufei paused, setting the weight he had been lifting on the floor. "That's because you didn't. You were sound asleep before the movie was over. I dozed off for awhile as well. I thought about letting you sleep on the couch but I told Quatre that you could have my bed and I don't like going back on my word so I moved you. What time is your flight back?"

"Not until eleven."

"We've got a few hours. Do you mind if I finish up in here? I'll make you some breakfast before you go."

"Do you want me to leave you alone?"

Wufei shrugged and flipped on his treadmill, starting off at a walk and picking up his pace to an easy jog. "You're welcome to stay if you want. I won't be talking much."

Jana glanced around the room. It was a small room, the walls and floors the same as the rest of the apartment. Wufei had put down a large area rug and had the different equipment set up around the room. She sat on the edge of the weight machine and picked up the smallest of the free weights on the floor, lifting it up with a gasp of effort. Quatre and Trowa had bought her the small weights that Iria had suggested but she hadn't done any work with them. She hadn't exercised at all outside of her required physical education class. Wufei watched her silently before stopping the treadmill and opening the closet. "I was getting ready to donate these, they've been catching dust for years." He handed her two three pound weights and quickly guided her through the proper technique before going back to his jog.

Jana kept up with the motion, the weights were almost identical to the ones sitting in her room back on L4. For the life of her she couldn't understand why Wufei had them in his apartment, he was obviously used to working out with much heavier weights. Even after a few minutes with the small ones she felt her arms getting sore and she had to pause. God she was pathetic compared to him.

He dropped back to a walk. "Pace yourself," he advised. "Is this the first time you've done this?"

Jana nodded, setting them down and rubbing her arm. "Take a minute and do another set if you're up for it. You don't want to hurt yourself."

She took a few breaths and started up again, finding a rhythm with the thud of his feet hitting the treadmill. She didn't care about working out but it was pleasant being in the room with him, going through the motions. Eventually she did have to set the weight down, watching Wufei finish his workout.

He wasn't lying when he warned her he would be focused. His eyes gazed straight ahead, occasionally glancing down at the display in front of him. There wasn't any music, any background noise of any kind, it was just him listening to his steps, focusing on his own body.

He brought himself down to a walk and finally looked back over at her again. "Hungry?" He asked.

"Starving," Jana admitted.

"Like I said, I can make you something or if you'd rather we could go out. There's a diner a few doors down that I go to before work or class some mornings."

Jana smiled sheepishly. "What's the chance you'd want to make congee?"

Wufei switched off the machine, hiding his smile behind a towel until he could exercise more control over his facial features again. "It won't take long."

"Can I help?" Jana asked suddenly. "I know you said you'd show me how sometime but I assumed you were just saying it to be polite."

"It's not difficult," Wufei tossed the towel in the hamper in the bathroom on their way back to the kitchen.

Within fifteen minutes, Wufei had a pot on the stove and had started rinsing rice in his sink. He had Jana slicing ginger and green onions next to him, explaining the steps. "It's white rice?" Jana asked.

"Jasmine." Wufei checked the pot and poured the rice into the boiling chicken stock. He walked her through the rest of the recipe.

"What now?" Jana asked, eyeing the neat piles of chopped up ingredients.

"We wait. It'll be ready in an hour or so. Are you thirsty? I've got juice and water in the refrigerator."

"Sure, I can get the cups."

Wufei wasn't sure how it happened. Somehow as he stepped over to the refrigerator, she turned to walk to the shelf where he kept his glasses. Instead, she walked right against him, right into his arms. They wrapped around her purely on reflex, or so he wanted to believe. He felt the blood rush to his face but as much as he knew he needed to, he couldn't make himself step back.

God she felt so perfect, so soft against him. He was trying not to move but couldn't help but inhale the scent of her hair, some kind of fruity scent that he couldn't place.

It felt like he had been waiting his entire life for that moment.

She wasn't moving away. Why wasn't she moving away?

He heard the soft sigh, felt her head rest against his shoulder. He knew what he wanted to do. He knew what every thought in his body was driving him to do but he forced himself to stay still, to keep holding her. He couldn't stop himself from pulling her closer against him, as much as he tried to resist the urge.

Jana wasn't sure how it happened, one second she was turning to pick up the glasses and the next she found herself staring at Wufei's chest, his arms wrapping around her, holding her softly against him. She wasn't sure how it happened but she wasn't going to complain. It was exactly where she wanted to be, exactly what she had dreamed of for so long.

She was afraid to move, afraid to make a sound, afraid to breathe, afraid to do anything that would break the connection. There was something so domestic, being in his arms with a pot simmering on the stove. Here was everything she had been craving her entire life. She was afraid to look up, afraid to meet his gaze, afraid of what she might see in his eyes. She was terrified that everything she was feeling wasn't going to be reciprocated. She was afraid that he was too polite to step back and end the contact.

It would crush her if it came to that. Jana sighed and leaned forward, risking everything for just a little more contact. She wasn't sure if it was her imagination or if he did actually tighten his hold slightly. He was so solid, the feeling of his body against hers was comforting in a way she hadn't expected.

Staring down at the ground, she saw when Domino walked into the room, sitting to the side of them, his head tilted to the side as he gazed at the two of them. She wasn't sure how long they stood there, not moving, not looking at each other.

It was the hissing from the pot on the stove that finally broke through their silence. "I need to stir it or it's going to burn," Wufei said, his voice almost a whisper.

"I'll get those cups," Jana replied, her voice just as low.

They didn't talk about it. The embrace hung over them as they finished cooking and ate their breakfast. Wufei settled back on the couch with the newspaper, not reading it and watched Jana play with the cat on the floor. Reluctantly he glanced at his watch. "I need to get you back to the spaceport soon. Are you packed?"

"Mostly, I just have a few things left to toss in my bag." Jana got up and left him behind to throw his head back against the couch and wipe his hand down his face. How had it gotten that far? How had his emotions gotten the better of him?

"Wufei? I'm ready."

He stood up and pulled their two jackets from the closet. He had to set her free, let her find someone her own age with less complications. "Jana...about earlier." She looked up at him, the look in her eyes fearful, as if she was already prepared for his rejection. He couldn't do it. "I just...I don't..." He blew out a breath in frustration. "I don't know what to say. I'm sorry."

"For that?"

"For not having any answers right now." Wufei pulled out his wallet, found one of the business cards he carried around, and using a pen from the hall table quickly wrote on the back of it. "Here."

Jana looked down at it silently and then back up at him. "It has my email address on it and I wrote my cell number on the back. If you want to and if you have the time, I'd like to hear from you. Up until now I've contacted you through Quatre's home line, I think I'd like to take it to a more private connection if it's something you're comfortable with."

She smiled. "I'd like that. Thank you. Take good care of Domino for me, okay?"

"Of course. About earlier...I'm not sorry. I probably should be but I'm not. Does that make you uneasy?"

"Not at all. Thank you for inviting me over here."

"I'm sorry you missed your beach trip."

"I'm not."

Duo sneezed and wiped his nose on the dirty sleeve of the flannel shirt he was wearing. He had been hitching for days, walking when he couldn't find a ride. He had been heading east as quickly as he could. He was out of drugs, out of booze, out of money, and out of food. He couldn't remember the last time he had showered or taken a brush to his hair. He had caught a glimpse of his own face in the mirror at a truck stop bathroom and couldn't recognize himself anymore.

He barely slept. The previously night he had curled up under a traffic bridge, leaning up against some large rocks that blocked the worst of the wind. It wasn't just flashbacks from the war anymore. They came and went but the memories from his childhood on L2 hurt him the most.

There were so many of them that he hadn't told anyone. The other pilots knew he was a street kid on L2, they knew he was an orphan. He let them imagine what they wanted to with that information but it would never come close to reality. He had never told Hilde he had been with another man before, he was never going to tell her that he was six years old when it happened the first time.

First time, not the only and definitely not the last. The only things more common on L2 than diseases were pedophiles.

The first time had been rape. It was painful and humiliating and he had cried out for help. The man had found Duo rummaging in a dumpster behind a local diner. He had good luck there in the past finding discarded food.

The man was throwing away bags of garbage when he spotted Duo in the space between the two industrial sized bins. He grabbed him, pulled him out and yanked down his pants, his other hand working the fly on his own pants. He stunk like stale cigarettes and the hot oil from a deep fryer. Duo frantically tried to escape but a young boy wasn't any match for a man in his forties.

God it had hurt. He had never felt anything so painful before in his short life.

The second time had been rape too. A group of teenaged boys had come upon him and Solo and they hadn't been able to fight their way out of it. After that, Duo had made the decision that if he was going to have to keep sleeping with people he hated, it would be on his terms, and he was going to make them pay.

It would have been laughable, him trying to demand money for sex, if it hadn't been for Ray. He was an old bum who lived in the alleyway between a pawn shop and a bailbond building. He had one leg, the other had been shot off in some war. He screamed at most people who dared walk by him but he had a soft spot for the street kids who ran errands for him.

He also had a giant mutt of a dog named Jake. Jake would attack anyone who came too close to Ray and was trained to seek and attack. Duo, Solo, and a few other kids in their gang convinced Ray to act like a pimp, an enforcer for anyone who thought they would get away with a freebie. It worked for the most part. The gang was better off than they ever had been up until that point and Ray was happy with the extra money that came his way. It was almost worth the pain and the pride he had thrown away.

Then another plague hit. Three members of his gang died, even more than that fell sick. When Solo died the gang fell apart. Duo had been desperate enough to try and find Ray but all he found was his body in the alley being eaten by his dog. There wasn't any money left, even pedophiles stayed away from the streets when there was sickness spreading around.

It was desperation and hunger that drove them all to the Maxwell Church. Most of the kids got adopted out. He was the one returned like a defective toaster, tossed out like an ugly shirt or a bruised apple. Father Maxwell and Sister Helen kept him out of pity.

Well, maybe not pity. Maybe it was something more, not like that helped in the end. Just like everyone he cared about, they left him.

No, it was better for him to be on his own. It was better for him not to depend on anyone but himself anymore. No more girlfriend. No more friends. No more sister. He was going to stay down on the Earth for the rest of his life.

As short as he was expecting that to be.

Jana walked back in the front door with a sigh. There was far too much going through her mind for her to deal with all at once. How was she supposed to explain the changes that happened over the weekend. How could she when she wasn't sure what to call him anymore. They had stepped over the line of friendship, but just barely. "I'm back," she called out.

There wasn't any response. She assumed they were in the Winner Industry offices and started walking upstairs only to find her guardians locked together in a tight embrace, kissing each other furiously. Trowa had Quatre pressed up against the wall, his hand threaded through the blonde boy's hair. "Oh!" Jana dropped her bag, starting down the stairs again.

They broke apart quickly, Quatre's cheeks flushed red. "I'm sorry, we didn't expect you for another hour and..." He looked to Trowa for support.

"I'm sorry if we embarrassed you," Trowa finished. "How was your trip?"

She prayed she wasn't blushing. "It was a lot of fun. The lectures were really interesting and I got to meet a few of his co-workers."

"How was Wufei?"

She felt her cheeks heat up. So much for subtlety. "He's doing well. I got to see part of his presentation and the room was full. We found a cat after dinner that he brought home. I need to watch him when he's traveling for work. Are you okay with Domino coming here?"

"Of course. Wufei has a pet now? That's different."

"I think he did it mostly for me," Jana admitted. She didn't miss the look Quatre and Trowa shared. "It's not like that."

"Jana, neither of us is going to judge you for wanting to be with him or him with you," Trowa said gently.

"We're not together," she insisted.

"Jana, you've got stars in your eyes. If you want to keep your feelings private, we'll drop the subject but there's one loose end I need to ask you to handle on your own, one way or another." Quatre attempted to smooth out his clothing discreetly.

"What do you mean?"

"The boy you've been seeing, if you're invested in someone else don't you think you owe it to him to be honest about what you're feeling?"

Taegan...she hadn't thought about him since the last time she had seen him. That alone was enough to tell her Quatre was right.

He came over the day after they got back from their beach trip. "How were the lectures?" Taegan asked, dropping a quick kiss on her mouth.

"Really interesting. I got some great notes out of some of them."

"I was hoping you'd say they were boring and you made a horrible mistake and you wished that you would have gone with us after all." Taegan sat down on the edge of her bed.

She opened her mouth, ready to play along, ready to tell him again how much she wished that she could do both only to find that the white lie wouldn't come out. Instead, she sat down next to him, slightly surprised when he didn't drape his arm around her shoulder to pull her closer to him like he normally did when they were together. His hands were on his legs and he was staring down at them. "How was the lake?" Jana ventured finally.

"So awesome. We had bonfires on the beach, went swimming and hiking, and went to a little festival in town the last night we were there."

Jana's gaze finally rested on a bracelet of white, black, and red beads on his wrist. "Did you win that there?" She asked.

He quickly covered it, moving his hand away a moment later when he realized it didn't matter. "No, Emi did."

"It looks good on you," Jana ventured.

"Yeah, I guess it does. I like it. Look, Jana...the two of us spent a lot of time together out there. We didn't do anything, I'm not that kind of guy, but it made me realize a lot. I feel like I got closer to her in a weekend than you've let me get with you in all the time we've been together. It wasn't until she and I started talking that I realized how much was missing from our relationship and it got me thinking. I started feeling like you were dating me because you liked being paired off more than you cared for me. Am I wrong?"

"I wouldn't have gone out with you if I didn't like you," Jana protested.

"But you didn't care for me like I cared for you, did you?"

She didn't miss the past tense he was using. What was the point in lying anymore. "I kept hoping I would," she said. "I liked you so much as a friend and I assumed it would come in time."

"That's what I figured. This thing with the lectures was never about the lectures, was it?"

"I can't talk to you about this."

"Sure you can. We were friends before, we can go back to it if you want."

"How did you figure it out?" Jana asked. "I never talked about him."

"That was it. You would mention him so briefly and you'd look like there was so much more to the story than you were willing to tell anyone else. He's that important to you?"

She nodded miserably. If they were breaking up, she had nothing to lose by being honest with him now. "Are you two together?" Taegan asked after a pause.

"I wouldn't have done that to you," Jana insisted. "I would never cheat on you."

"Emotionally I think you did but I guess we're both guilty of that. Friends?"

"Friends," Jana gave him the strongest smile she could. "So you and Emi?"

"We're going to give it some time. She cares about you too and neither of us wanted you to get hurt. I was pretty sure you were going to see it as an easy way out of a relationship you weren't all that invested in to begin with."

Jana winced. "That's harsh."

"But?"

"But true," she admitted with a sigh.

"You asked me over to break up with me, didn't you?" She nodded reluctantly. "So you and this other guy?"

"I don't know. He's older than me and a friend of my brother. It's hard to tell what he's thinking but what he was able to tell me this weekend makes me think we may be getting on the same page."

"He'd be lucky to have you," Taegan patted her knee awkwardly. "Want to go for a walk?"

"Sure."

"So?" Trowa asked, kissing his way down Quatre's neck.

"Mmm." Quatre peered out the window, staying in the shadow of the curtains. "That feels good."

"Are they still together?" Trowa slid his hand over the front of Quatre's pants, chuckling as the other boy arched into the caress.

"I think they're through." Quatre rotated his hips back against Trowa's.

"Why would you say that?" Trowa murmured, going to work on Quatre's belt.

"They're walking around the yard with about two feet of space between them and he has his hands in his pockets. They're looking everywhere but at each other."

"Do you think anything happened between her and Wufei this weekend?" Trowa pulled Quatre over to their bed.

"Is now really the time to be thinking about that?" Quatre unbuttoned Trowa's shirt and eased it off of his shoulders. "Are you asking if they spent their night like this?"

Trowa let out a quiet hiss as Quatre straddled his lap, carefully unfastening his belt and unbuttoning his pants. "Do you think they'd move that fast?"

"No. I think something happened but not this. Guess we're not going to know anytime soon."

Trowa flipped Quatre over onto his back and devoured his mouth until they were both breathless. "Are you okay with her going back over there?"

"It's the only way I'm going to get you naked without worrying about being overheard," Quatre teased. "There's no point in rushing to a decision. Right now, I've got much better ideas in my head."

"Like?" Trowa unbuttoned Quatre's shirt and started kissing his way down his chest.

Quatre inhaled sharply. "That's a good start."


End file.
